

BLOOD SIAM

Joesph Tomko writing as Christian Davidson

Published by Joseph Tomko at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Christian Davidson

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the many hours of dedicated work of this author.
BLOOD SIAM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BLOOD SIAM

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER 1- HANGOVER

CHAPTER 2- CLUB SCENE

CHAPTER 3- BLOOD LETTING

CHAPTER 4- CHARMING LAMAI

CHAPTER 5- ENTRAPMENT

CHAPTER6- BODILY INJURY

CHAPTER 7- ISAAN

CHAPTER 8- DECEPTIONS

CHAPTER 9- VILLAGE LIFE

CHAPTER 10- AJARN SANTEE

CHAPTER 11- SAMHATI

CHAPTER 12- MEMORIES

CHAPTER 13- EVASION

CHAPTER 14- ALBION

CHAPTER 15- SET UP

CHAPTER 16- MONEY

CHAPTER 17- FLIGHT

CHAPTER 18- UBON

CHAPTER 19- TRAVELS

CHAPTER 20- ASSASSINS

CHAPTER 21- DISGUISED

CHAPTER 22- EQUALS ZERO

CHAPTER 23- LOWER CLASS

CHAPTER 24- REANIMATED

CHAPTER 25- THE SHOW

CHAPTER 26- DEAD GIRL

CHAPTER 27- RED MAN

CHAPTER 28- SALAWEEN

CHAPTER 29- SOONAN

CHAPTER 30- CEREMONY

CHAPTER 31- SABINE

CHAPTER 32- SHOWDOWN

CHAPTER 33- RECKONING

CHAPTER 34- CONFLUENCE

CHAPTER 35- PIONEERS

CHAPTER 36- SONG KRAN

GLOSSARY

ABOUT CHRISTIAN DAVIDSON

OTHER TITLES BY CHRISTIAN DAVIDSON

CONNECT WITH CHRISTIAN DAVIDSON
INTRODUCTION

Lamai sat up on the table where she had been reanimated, looking around, shaking, wondering where and what she was. She noticed a decrepit old man walking towards her. He was carrying a cup of blood that he had filled by slicing his own wrist. He didn't say a word, he just stared at her face with old, piercing eyes. His arm extended and he held the cup out to her. She had no clue as to what was going on in the strange world around her, she only knew that she wanted what was in this cup.

It hurt to make her body respond to her will as she painfully reached her arms towards the red colored glass. She noticed her own skin when she did this. These arms that belonged to her were covered with countless tiny red wounds and painted with a foul looking paste. She was consumed by the act of recognizing her own body. This tiny body of hers looked like she had been a pin cushion or an abused voodoo doll. Her thoughts sharpened a little. She reached out and snatched the cup from this old man's hands and sucked down what was in it greedily. Some of the blood streamed down the sides of her mouth and neck as she gorged on this intoxicating meal. The Hia reached out his hand and rubbed the dripping blood in circles on her skin. She recoiled with doubt and uncertainty.

She stared at an old face that was intently observing her. Who the hell is he?

He walked around the table, looking her up and down. Her head followed his movements and her eyes held his gaze.

"Where am I?" She found these words that formed in her mind and were released by her lips. It felt strange, and painful, to use her breath and vibrating vocal cords to make the first words since she had went into the darkness.

"You are back!" he said. "You have been to a place that most never return to tell about. I have awoken you because you still have something to do. Do you know your name?"

She understood these words that were coming from the old man's lips and burrowing into her ears. This question. What is my name? "La-mai? My name is... Lamai." She said, amazed at the sound of her own words. "How did I get here?" she asked, moving her lips in all directions to feel the sensation of owning a mouth.

"I brought you back." he said, "Two stupid girls brought you here. Drink some more of this and rest now." He gestured to her with a drinking motion he made with his hands. She realized that her entire body was a hideous mess. She hated being in it, but there she was, animated, capable of motion, but am I alive? She felt a black vengeance was growing inside her like a cancer creeping quickly outward.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book was written in a burst of creative inspiration that was inspired by the area of the world called Siam, the people and places, the friendliness and freedom, the food, the fun, and the financial formula that I was fearlessly facing.

The author would like to comment here on the usage of words within this story. Do the words 'Poetic Justice' mean anything to you? I have taken extreme liberties with my grammar and vocabulary in this story, so get used to it. You will encounter words that are spelled with accents, colloquialisms, slang and rule bending that would make my past grammar teachers shriek. I feel that this represents the mood of what is trying to be conveyed and I defend it against all of you proofreaders with concise opinions. Relax!

I have to thank Tony Morton III, for being a free spirited creative individual whose presence in the moment was contagious, as well as his creativity. You can read some of his original lyrics in the first part of chapter eighteen that are spoken by the character Tone. The rest of the lyrics that the character Tone recites are those of the author.I also want to thank my father and mother for their genetic input and their parenting, which is to blame for this book. Joke please.

I also would like to thank the English Steves, the smaller one and Big Steve too, The Russian guy and his family, my ex-lovers, my teachers, my students, my mentors, my tormentors and all of the souls present in Southeast Asia.

I must state that all of the characters in this story are fictional, and any similarities to people alive or dead, in name or in personality, are purely coincidental. So don't even try to sue or pursue me over your own inadequacies you see in the mirror of life. That is my disclaimer. I must also say that truth is stranger than fiction, and many of my own life experiences have influenced my creative endeavors, such as this book.

Thanks to everyone I met in Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia for their support and their existence. Thank you for being you and for doing what you do. Now, I urge you to engulf yourself in this provocative tale.

CHAPTER 1 HANGOVER

"Oh my fucking head!" Jay moaned as he squeezed the palms of his hands against his temples and rubbed them in an orbital motion. Before he even opened his eyes, he felt all around his bed with his groping hands to see if anyone was in it with him. He was the only person there, he confirmed. He opened his eyes, allowing the early morning sunlight to penetrate his head pounding reality.

Stumbling to his feet, he got his arms and head tangled in his bed's protective mosquito netting that was hanging from the ceiling above him. After a short battle with the thin fabric, he was free and standing upright, stretching and twisting his body to relieve the last night's stiffness, an all too familiar feeling that he could not accept as old age. He was still young.

"What the helicopter.....?" He mumbled as he stumbled into the next room, his body weaving as it moved, "...happened last night?" He went to the room's only window and opened the wooden shutters as a ritualistic morning greeting. This effort to be appreciative felt half hearted, but he loved this third story view and he loved the early morning peace. He just hated the feeling that he had been drained of his life's energy.

He secured the shutters in an open position and peered out across the stretching farm fields to enjoy the scenery and admire this simple but profound landscape. The rice paddies, which had since been cut and the grain removed, were dry and bare, except for some golden colored stalks trampled into the soil by so many buffalo's hooves.

He watched buffalo grazing on the stubbly remains of this season's harvested bounty, which were the slim pickings of the dry season. Nearby a farmer was pounding a stake into the ground with the flat side of a shovel that he could tie his beast to. A rooster was sounding off in response to another rooster to announce its greater pride. These noises stabbed at Jay's aching head and he squinted and rubbed his temples to release the pounding demon that had moved in while he slept, and erected an unwelcome hangover. It seemed like the hangovers were getting more frequent and more intense.

He walked away from the window with its morning panoramic scene and moved towards the wooden staircase of his humble home. Even though he was enjoying his current evening drinking career, he loved early mornings too. He didn't care so much for the transition from medicated sleep into sluggish wakefulness It was now time for him to stumble down the stairs and begin his morning ritual, in spite of his body's aching resistance.

Step one. See if the motorbike has any new scratches or dents on it. Observation complete. No new problems. Thank Buddha! Jay's new motorbike still looked new, from a distance, and he wanted to keep it that way. It was nothing like the rib-rattling Harley Sportster that he used to ride back in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, but he was happy to have a shiny new scooter, and a careless lifestyle that could ignore traffic laws that were rarely enforced.

He knew that driving home drunk was not his best idea ever. Did I drive home? He wondered. What did I do last night. Aa-rye? Aa-rye? He thought to himself in Thai language. What? What? What did I do last night? That was the question of the moment of the morning after. He hated not remembering, but forgetfulness was becoming common these days. I didn't drink that much, did I? He reflected. "Why can't I remember? Oh my fucking head!" He blurted out in blank frustration, knowing that this hangover was part of the decadent lifestyle he enjoyed. He accepted the blackouts as part of his drinking career. Maybe it's because I am really getting older now. Maybe it's the weather in Southeast Asia. Maybe I will slow down on my hedonistic ways Ha! Maybe.

Jay searched for his keys, his phone and his wallet. "Success!" All items were present and accounted for, laying in a scattered pile where they usually were. He checked the contents of his wallet to find two hundred fifty Thai Baht remaining. How much did I start with? He wondered. Well, at least I have something left. What happened night?

Jay moved his body and his pulsing brain into the bathroom and turned on the instant hot water unit. He stepped into the weak wet stream of water and tried to put on a game face. "I gotta get moving and go to work!" He coached himself. The slightly warm water soaked his head and ran down over his body. He felt some energy coming back into him, but he was still struggling to keep his eyes open. Why do I do this when I know I have to work? He pondered. Why am I so tired everyday? It must be the Thai rice beer. Maybe it's the hot weather.

Jay could hear the voices of students walking past his house. He thought of them as little monsters, lovable little monsters, some of them. What am I going to teach these little monkeys today? Adjectives? Nouns? Future perfect continuous verb tenses? Do they want to know any of this stuff anyhow, really? Why do I struggle with this futile task? Maybe I will just show them a movie of something slapstick and ridiculous. That is a humor they can understand.

He really did struggle with his part in this world's less-than-perfect educational system. Jay was a purpose driven man. Now, his purpose was unclear, as was his role as a teacher. His drive was to produce and succeed in being a good exemplar, but, his job duties did not seem to actually include imbuing intellect. They were more designed to have him attract funds to the school rather than impart knowledge to the next generation. Jay often found himself being shown off as a theoretical asset to those who would pay money to the school, which meant the director's pockets. Those forking out the funds hoped to have their child accelerate with the highly promoted trust in international influence. Creating bankroll for 'boss big' was actually job one. Cultivating creative minds was a side effect, not important to the powers that employed him.

Jay scrubbed himself with a loofah, acting as his own motivational coach, talking himself into going to work and teaching students who didn't really want to learn. This is my purpose driven life now. He lied to himself. I am doing this for some altruistic higher purpose. I am somehow making the world a better place. Yeah right! Jay stared in the mirror and practiced his best fake smile while scowling at his sarcastic inner guru. He ignored his aging facial features. He felt nineteen in his heart and sixteen in his libido, but forty something in his dehydrated and hungover disposition.

Jay finished his pot of water and bucket shower, dried off and went to his wardrobe to get dressed. He turned on his notebook computer and tried to live stream some world news. The signal was too weak, so he cursed the 'god damned' internet and turned on some music instead. John Coltrane. This will go well with coffee, he thought as he started a pot of water boiling.

He opened his wardrobe to release the flock of mosquitoes that camped out in there during the night. "You little blood sucking bastards!" He cursed them as he swatted them away with one hand and he plugged an iron in with the other. He prepared a ritual cup of coffee, not the deep dark bitter French roast from some free-trade fifty kinds of granola market, but a green package of instant coffee with extra caffeine, mostly sugar and milk powder. "T.I.T. Baby!" he said to himself. "This is Thailand." He recited the local mantra of foreigner ex-pats and turned his head to see smoke rising from the iron melting into his trousers. "Aw, Shiiiiit!"

¤

In a quaint little Ohio town, with hallmark card front yards, lined with split rail fences and flower boxes, Kelly, Jay's girlfriend, was getting ready to go to sleep. But first, she had intentions to give Jay something provocative. She crawled onto the bed and raised her naked ass into the air, doggy style. She moved her knees apart, spreading her legs and raising her ass higher. She arched her back, turned her head and gave a devious smile. The camera flashed. She pushed her head and chest into the bed, pushing her ass and crotch up even higher enhancing her seductive curves. Flash. She moved a hand across her back and lets two fingers touch her labia, spreading them slightly open. Flash.

She grinned to herself, as she stood up, and walked over to her high dollar camera. She wondered what Jay would think of these photos. "This will make him think 'harder' about 'cuming' back here," She smirked. She browsed the digital photos on her display screen, entertaining the idea of showing these pics to her photography class. "This would get me a fucking A for sure, and probably give the older students a heart attack. These are going into Jay's spank bank for sure!"

She transferred the photos to her computer and sent Jay a sexy email message. "I'm right here baby! You want me? Come and get me!" she typed. She felt the wetness between her legs seeping downward. She touched herself, and closed her eyes. She pleasured herself in her computer chair and sighed, breathing heavily, craving a warm body, his warm body, next to hers. She crawled under her down comforter alone, exhaling with a lonely sigh.

¤

Jay raced towards his iron, set to number six and dripping with rayon from his black pants. "Mother Fu....." He threw this pair into the trash bin and grabbed another pair. He put the subsequent pair on without ironing them. "Fuck em!" He ranted. "Why do I get dressed up like a corporate monkey to go babysit undisciplined miniature baboons anyhow? No one gives a shit what I do here. I am just the light skinned, smiling, monkey of the month." Jay adjusted his belt, buttoned his shirt and decided against wearing a tie.

Why can't I do this job in sandals and shorts? Jay knew the answer to his question already. Image. Image. Image. Presentation. I only need to appear to be something Western, not really be something of value. I need to be a perfectly wrapped gift with ribbons and bows and flowers, with, it doesn't matter what, inside the box.

It didn't really matter what was in the box because he was being paid to be pale, not to actually be a teacher. The politics of making a living in a world with different values was a challenge for Jay. He struggled with his sense of purpose and struggled to make his un-ironed pants lay flat, as he struggled with his swimming brain.

I remember going to the bar, I remember drinking Leo beer with teacher Tone. I remember the dim bar lights glowing on Chompoo's honey colored skin. I remember her big beautiful eyes. Fuck! Those beautiful fucking eyes of hers! Speaking of fucking, did I fuck her? Did I go for a short time with her? She's not in my bed now. Did she come home with me and then leave? He wrestled with his lack of memory from the previous night. Hangovers and memory blanks seemed to be a regular occurrence as of late, no matter how many or how few drinks he had.

Jay drank his coffee and remembered a train ride he took through the wet mountains near Chiang Mai, some time ago. The same John Coltrane album that he was hearing now had also been playing on his MP3 player then. He could remember the mist around the mountains, the freezing cold temperature of the air conditioner on the bus, the windy turns and the bus sometimes riding in oncoming lanes which always made him tense.

He drifted into this memory with the music he was now hearing but soon his thoughts took a turn and slipped into a coffee shop somewhere in college town Ohio. He could see Kelly and her soft blonde hair, her sparkling eyes and her cute, cute smile. Coltrane was caressing them both from the background in this vision. She was sitting there reading a book from her latest photography class. He suddenly saw Kelly's alluring eyes change. They became Chompoo's brown Asian eyes. Dark, enticing, luring, mesmerizing. He was slowly forgetting about Kelly and filling his evenings with a Thai girl's company.

This scene gnawed at his integrity. Should I just tell Kelly I'm not going to come back any time soon? Should I keep her on a line in case I want to hurriedly leave this corner of the world? No! I should just tell her I don't know what I am doing with my life right now and put the ball in her court.

He paused his attention to this relationship crisis to swat a biting mosquito on his ankle. "Ouch! Little bastard!" he cursed it with his new Thai dialect, rich in construction worker vocabulary. He looked at the many red blotches all over his ankles and feet, speculating about malaria and dengue disease transfer by means of insect proboscises. When do these little bastards get me? It's like I don't even feel it when it happens. It must be while I am sitting at the bar, not paying attention to anything but the visual stimulation and eye candy all around me. They have those annoying perfumed smelling mosquito smoke coils burning all the time though. I make myself smell annoying with all of the spray I put on. I have to remember to bring even more spray next time. I also have to remember what I do at night. I feel like I'm missing out on all of my own fun! Maybe I can hire someone to follow me and tell me what I do.

Jay left his house and began walking down a shy street in the quiet morning Thailand sun. He resided in a very urban area, but he lived on the edge of the 'city meets farm' interface. Birds were singing from the mess of jumbled wires strung between all of the buildings on utility poles and bamboo sticks. The smell of the street side drain wafted into the air and filled his nostrils, making him want to gag. Is it one big open sewer in this city? It reminds me of New York and makes me homesick. Not really.

He walked past the food venders on Soi Six and coughed from inhaling a breath full of chilies and basil, frying in a wok at a restaurant nearby. He could smell the fires burning in the concrete containers, which were cooking large baskets of sticky rice and other essential items, required by the Thai palette. This smell of the wood burning was intoxicating to him. Something was so ancient and secure about the smell of this smoke. What wood are they burning? Why do I like this smell so much? He stretched his mind to try and tried to decide if he believed in past lives.

"Sawasdee Kaaa!" A beautiful Thai lady said to him as he passed by, her hands in the wai prayer position and her head bowed slightly. These are the sexiest words in the world. He thought, especially the Kaaa, part.

"Sawasdee Kawp!" he returned the greeting to her, waiing and bowing in respect, and partially to bask in the presence of her for a moment longer. Yeah, this is why I love this country. Poor Kelly. How can she compete with a whole country full of beautiful young women. Women, or girls, who don't care how old I am, don't care how big my gut is, and don't care about my gray hairs or mismatched clothes."

Jay smiled at every one he passed on the street. This was the land of smiles after all, and a smile was probably the most important part of his presentation of the package and its wrapping paper. Forget whatever real emotions you are experiencing, and smile. He found his way down a very dirty, smelly alley, and arrived at the school he was currently teaching at. He heard children whisper, "falang" as they passed him at the school gate.

He still could not say the name of school he worked for, because of it's extremely long name and it's pronunciation being a different syntax, but he thought, so what? People still call me John. John must be the stereotypical description for every light skinned foreigner, or more locally, 'falang.'

Jay hated being called 'falang', but that was his problem. He would always be falang, no matter how long he stayed there or how much he assimilated, ate the food, wore the clothes or spoke the language. He could never change this nomenclature. He still felt his adrenaline flow, every time he heard the word, 'falang', even though everyone insisted it meant, 'foreigner'. Jay's suspicious nature made him wonder, if the word means foreigner, why did it also mean potato or guava. Which is it? Am I a potato or a guava? A fruit or a vegetable? Why am I grouped in with every human soul from Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Do the locals think we all live together in one big country, Falangia? I have to stop letting this generalization get to me. I surely will not change it. It will never change. To get angry about this is like getting angry at the sky for being blue. Smile. Just smile!

At the food cafeteria, or canteen as it was called, Jay decided on fried basil with cut pork and rice for his morning meal. He added way too much fish sauce and chopped chili pepper, but he often overdid the hot stuff. My head is swimming, how am I going to work today? Come on brain. Shake it off! Pull it together! He sat down alone with his food, ignoring the local style of all the Thai teachers, which was eating together, and reaching over each other to dip balls of sticky rice into all kinds of saucy dishes. Instead he ate 'lone wolf' style, Kon diaow as they called it there. He was alone with his food and his thoughts, alone with his all too regular hangover.

"What the fucks up mother fucker, kawp?" Teacher Tone called out as he danced over and sat down, smiling hugely. Teacher was a more common title than Mr. in this part of the world. "Man I am still fuckin wasted from last night man! Na Kup. Kup Kup kup."

"How can you do this every night and day my friend?" Jay asked his drinking buddy, and co-teacher with a furrowed brow. "How do you not ever feel like shit?"

"I just stay drunk mother fucker, KAWP! And I ain't an old fucker like you! DIS!" Tone released this information into Jays face. "Did you see those bitches at the bar last night? Gaawd DAMN! There were as many bitches as mosquitoes! I can see the skeeters bit the fuck out me, but I'm not sure what the bitches did to me."

"What the fuck did we do last night anyhow?" Jay asked, shoveling rice into his beer hole. "Did we have a good time?"

"Shit mother fucker! How the fuck am I supposed to know. The last thing I remember is you trying to crawl up Chompoo's skirt. I think I saw you guys head towards the short time room. I don't know, but then these three bitches rolled in, I'm pretty damn sure none of them had dicks! I taught them all how to say, I am a spooge receptacle. I am a professional English teacher you know. So I teach 'em what they need to know, but their accent kills me! I em a spooja wee sep taa koo."

"You are a gentleman and a scholar. It is so generous of you to give free English lessons. Maybe they will hang your name on a wall in the temple."

"That's whassup! In the mean time, I think you should avoid hangovers by staying drunk, HAH!" Teacher Tone strolled away singing to himself...."I wanna put my balls on her eyebrows....I wanna put my cock on her forehead..."

"What a poet!" Jay shook his head in rebuke with simultaneous admiration, and gave a quirky Beavis chuckle. I wish I could just not give a fuck more often. Life is good, why be serious? I have to be serious about not being serious. But seriously, I have to go be a teacher now. I have to give these kids something. I have to be prepared. I have to....... go sign in..... and teach English. Or do what the admin wants and just be seen and babysit little baboons.

Jay headed for the office to sign his name in the books, so he would get counted and eventually paid, he hoped. This gig didn't pay much, but he needed the money.

He wasn't like most of the other farangs here in this country. Most of them were retired. There were so many dumpy old men walking around with big guts, gray hair and hot girls, fifty years younger than them. Jay was not that old, he was still fit, and not bad looking, but he could not compete with the fat wallets of the retired farangs.

He tried not to be jealous, but he had a bad break in America. When the Western economy took a dump, he lost his house, his business, his girlfriend, his dog and his best friend all at the same time. He decided he had to do something besides drink himself to death or put a bullet in his head, so he tried something a bit adventurous and new, by moving to Thailand and working as a teacher.

Life was easy in Thailand. There was a real sense of freedom or at least a lack of enforcement. The ladies were beautiful there. This construction worker/philosopher, in his mid life crisis and second Saturn's return, was finding a new way to live. It meant forgetting about Western values and accepting every fucked up and beautiful thing as it unfolded in Southeast Asia.

"Sawasdee Kaaa," teacher Ting greeted him. "Sawasdee Kaaa," followed a greeting from teacher O.

"Sawasdee kawp," Jay return and gave them a wai and a bow. "Good morning Ajarn Ting, Good morning, Ajarn, O, my God!" The lady teachers were all smiles. Especially Ajarn O, who always giggled at the way Jay used a play on words with her name that she actually understood. Jay smiled even bigger than them. These were two of the sexiest teachers in his school by his ranking. Calling her 'O my god!' was no understatement. He was surrounded with beautiful eye candy every where he looked. How could he ever complain?

After signing in, Jay went to his classroom, opened his lap top computer and checked his emails before the students arrived. Junk. Spam. Ads. Ads. Then, there was Kelly, Oh My....! Jay was open mouthed and staring at Kelly posing for him on his computer screen. "Wow! She is so hot!" He declared as his mind and pelvis drifted twelve thousand miles to Kelly's bedroom. He remembered their short fling before he came to this country. He could almost smell her skin, white and soft, enticing, beautiful.

"Good morning teacher," chimed three of his girl students flanking his left side.

"Good morning he said startled, and fumbled to hit the minimize tab. The girls were beside him in an instant peering at the screen to see what the falang teacher was looking at. They didn't see anything revealing he hoped.

The rest of the students noisily clamored into the room, hitting each other, laughing, eating snacks and drinking from tiny boxes of something, just as the image of Kelly vanished. The three curious girls didn't see the photo meant for Jay.

"Please stand up, the loudest student yelled out and all the students rose and intoned together, "Goood Morniiing Teeeeachah."

"Good morning students. How are you today?" Teacher Jay recited out of habit.

"I am fine and yooooou?" replied the chorus.

"I am happy today, please sit down."

"Thank you teeeeachah."

The monkeys went back to screaming, laughing, eating and wrestling, talking on cell phones, staring into mirrors and powdering their faces. Teacher Jay wrote the date on the white board, turning his back to the class, trying to conceal the cyber hard on that Kelly gave him, and the hangover that was swimming inside his head.

CHAPTER 2 CLUB SCENE

Brrrn-Chhh, Brrrn-Chhh, Brrrn-Chhh, Brrrn-Chhh. Thumping sounds were blaring from the large wall mounted speakers at the the 'PuYing Palace' club. Gunter was sucking on a Leo beer and poking his chopsticks into a plate of Pad Thai noodles. It was 6:00 P.M. and the streets were scarcely occupied but were starting to show signs of wandering alcohol drinking customers.

"Darlink, vould you prease brringk me a Sang Som and ze Red Bullz?" he called out to Chaa, the pretty young girl he hired yesterday to work in his bar slash date introduction service.

"OK, kaaa!" She smiled very widely and clicked her high heels on over to the bar.

"Vucking bitchaz!" Gunter said to himself, "Vhat vould I do wiz out zem?"

Gunter moved to Thailand three years ago, tried an English teaching gig which he was horrible at, found a girlfriend, quit teaching and bought a bar with his Thai girlfriend in the touristy town of Pattaya. That girlfriend was long gone already, and so was the previous name of the bar. He had originally named the bar after his girlfriend, Tang. Gunter thought back to her sweet young sexy body, her ensnaring smile, and her name, Tang, short for poon Tang, he thought. It was his own fault for putting his trust in that part of her anatomy. Lesson learned. Valuable experience gained.

But Gunter was not finished with the economic possibilities of Thailand. Pattaya had way too many bars already, but had opportunities for many more, and Gunter knew this. He also knew how to get around having a dominant Thai partner to jointly own property. He had many Thai business partners, all owning such a small share of the bar that no one could push him out, unless they all combined their pie pieces to conglomerate fifty one percent of the shares, which would never happen. Gunter cleverly set it up this way because he knew that if he chose local investors who hated each other, that they would never be consolidated enough to move against him. Competition for the tourist dollar was cut throat, and Gunter exploited that fact in his favor. Even in the land of smiles, there were devious sneers.

Gunter ran the day to day operations, and was in charge of hiring and firing the cashiers, bar tenders and the bar girls. The Thai partners came to look at the books and collect their share of the booze profits once a month. Gunter saw them very little, and preferred them out of the picture just the same. He wanted to be in charge, and inflect his German-Belgian ideas, which meant having as many hot, young cuties walking around his bar and his eyesight as possible.

Bee was the girl in charge of the cooking operations and Simon and Jorgen were on security and bouncer duty. Gunter wanted at least some European ears around him so he could still have someone listen to him complain and understand his ire. He had fifteen bar girls that showed up for work when they weren't having stomach aches or family issues. He only hired girls, no lady-boys, which he detested the abundance of. He renamed the bar the 'PuYing Palace,' which meant 'Girl Palace', to advertise the lack of balls on his cocktail waitresses. All of his girls were legally over 18, so they claimed. They were certainly all beautiful. He didn't have to search for fresh entertainment. After he established himself, the girls just kept showing up to apply for work, and he could have his pick of the litter. Slim, tall, scantily dressed in fuck-me shorts and white tank tops. This was the uniform and the look of the 'PuYing Palace' girl.

"Here you drink, Kaaa," Chaa spoke to him in her best English as she set the glass down on a bar towel and stepped back smiling big, braces and dimples showing. She spoke the international language of commerce, not Gunter's native Belgian dialect, of which she knew only the swear words.

"Danka darling," Gunter grinned as he smacked her on the ass and smiled out of half of his face and threw a Thai thank you at her, "Kawwwwb kooon Kawwwwp!" Chaa giggled and clicked back to a table where a couple of other girls were busy with their compact mirrors, plucking out their eyebrows and painting them back on again. She joined them in the artistic hair removing ceremony.

Across the street, lady-boys were engaging in the same ceremony. The 'Happy Joy Bar' was directly across from Gunter's Palace. This bar had half Hole in the Wall workers, who beautiful ladies with large breasts, full hips, alluring eyes and ...cocks. The other half of the workers were beautiful Russian girls, mostly from Russia. Gunter had mostly Thai girls working and occasionally Laos, Cambodian and Vietnamese girls. Gunter sipped on his Sang Som bomb and gave a sneer in the direction of his competition.

"Fucking Oleg! That communist cocksucker!" he blurted. Gunter's contempt came from the fact that the Happy Joy bar did three times the amount of business as him, had three times the police protection and had katois stealing his customers regularly.

The last time Gunter tried to express his disapproval of his competition's katois coming near his bar to flirt with his customers, Oleg, the Russian owner and mafia connected trader, had his thugs dance on Gunter's ribs, while three other Russians played accordion, balalaika and sang Russian drinking songs to the ass whooping event. They left Gunter's bloody and bruised body in the street in front of his bar, and placed a bottle of Stolichnaya vodka, wrapped with a red bow, under his broken arm as a parting gift.

¤

Kelly was waking up to the annoying sounds of a blaring alarm clock. She touched herself between her legs and moaned a small sigh, partially from desire and partially from sleepiness. She rolled over and slapped her alarm clock into silence with a precise and well practiced blow. Rising to a sitting position, she licked her lips and replayed the erotic dream she had been viewing in her slumber. Jay and she were on a boat. It was dark. They were naked. They were petting each other. They were happy to be alone. They kissed. They began to make love. She felt his tensing arms around her. There were colored lights somewhere in the background. Oriental sounding music was also coming from somewhere in the distance. More kissing. More caressing. A break to catch their breath. A pause to take a drink. She saw his face. She watched him lift the glass to his lips. She saw him swallowing deeply, the red liquid in the glass. He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her. A drop of...... blood, was leaking from the side of his mouth. His teeth were stained red. "What the fu.......?"

¤

Jay was walking towards the bars now that evening was upon him. He had changed out of his dress clothes, showered, misted his chest with cologne and put on some shorts and sandals. He topped off his evening wear with a locally produced black T-shirt that had an emblem on the front that read 'Croca Cola.' School was finished and he was happy. The best part of the week was upon him. It was Friday!

"T.B.I.W.S." he said, thinking in Thai rather than in English acronyms. "Thank Buddha it's Wan Sook!" He laughed at himself for being so acclimated. "555" he thought, which, in Thai, was pronounced, hah hah hah.

He walked past a row of food carts and gazed over the immense selection. There was rice soup, rice with seafood, rice with omelets, rice with chicken, rice with squid, rice with beef or pork, rice with veggies and rice. Jay reflected on the fact that people here didn't ask you if you ate yet. They ask you if you ate rice yet. Really, just about every meal included rice, with something to flavor it.

There were also noodles, oysters, sushi, pork balls, hot dogs, pineapple, mangoes, eggs, grilled whole chickens, all kinds of meat and organs barbequed on a stick, bamboo, bugs, bags of soup, bags of soda, bags of anything, different colored sweet drinks, mushrooms, seafood, scorpions, squirming things, everything and anything, all for sale in artistically arranged displays.

Jay paused to look at a cart full of fried insects. There were fried crickets, grasshoppers, rice bugs, scorpions, meal worms and bamboo worms to name a few. He watched a young tourist couple timidly staring at the unfamiliar cuisine. A drunken Aussie wandered up and almost knocked the girl of the couple over as he pushed his way forward and grabbed a handful of worms, shoving them in his mouth as if he were entitled to help himself to free beer snacks.

"Hey Buddy!" her boyfriend shouted. "Watch it!"

"Five-tee baht!" the lady bug vendor announced to the staggering drunken man.

The down under vacationer, who was enjoying a drunken holiday, poured a waterfall of beer from a bottle of Tiger lager into his mouth to wash down the bugs. He smiled and beer ran down his face and onto his already stained shirt. He hollered back to the short vendor, loudly and incomprehensibly, "Siiiip saaawng bawwwwwt!" trying to be a smart ass and suggesting paying twelve Baht instead of the advertised price of fifty.

"No, no! You give five-ty baht!" the little woman replied, suddenly seeming taller.

"These bloody bugs aren't worth bullocks and I ain't giving you shite!" He defiantly spit back at her. A hand suddenly found his shoulder and squeezed it with surgical precision with fingers also penetrating his armpit. This turned him to into pudding and dropped him to his knees in an immobilizing way.

"You give five-ty bought, sir!" said Chang, a tuk-tuk truck driver who was also watching the scene unfold and took some vigilante action.

"OK! OK! Owww! Fuck! Here, take it!" With his free arm he pulled a hundred baht bill out of his pocket and dropped it on the ground. Chang let go and picked up the bill, handing it to the lady food vendor.

"Thank you too much, so much, very much!" She said melodically. She took the bill, scooped up a handful of crickets placing them in a Styrofoam 'to go' container and handed it to the recovering Aussie. "I give you. Free!" she said with a smile as she handed the drunken arsehole a to-go bag.

The less than exemplary Australian citizen staggered off looking pissed, without his doggie bag. Jay watched as the young couple walked away, and Chang received a big smile from the food vendor. "Kawp koon kaaa na kub," she said to him and opened a drawer on her cart. She grabbed a handful of black squirming.....worms? Jay wasn't sure what he was seeing. She placed them in a paper funnel, sealing the top with a stapler, handed this package to Chang and gave him a one eyed smile. He nodded to her and walked back to his tuk-tuk with his package of,...?

"Excuse me sir," Jay said to Chang's back. "Can you give me a ride to Soi Seven?"

It was only a kilometer or so to this street, but Jay felt something mysterious about this man and his curiosity made him want to know more about the squirming transaction he just observed. "OK! Dai Dai." Chang told him yes, that he could give him a ride. "Sit down please," he said, and pointed to the seat in the back of the tuk-tuk. As they pulled out of the food vending area in a small red truck, Jay asked him his name.

"My name is, ...Chang. What you name? Kup."

"My name is Jay. That was a nice move you made back there on that drunken asshole!"

"Alai-wah? Sawly. No understand." Chang said.

In his best Thai pronunciation, Jay told Chang that he was a good strong man and that he gave hurt to a bad drunk man. He also added that he did a good job in a good style.

"Oh! Thank you, Thank you! Man crazy. Soi Seven, you want go?" Chang gratefully accepted this compliment and reconfirmed the location that Jay was going to on street number seven.

"Yes, yes." Jay confirmed his destination, but was extremely curious about what he just saw come out of the food vendors drawer, so he asked Chang, in Thai, what he was going to eat from the bug vendor cart. Jay wanted to know what this man was given that was not openly sold on the top of the food cart display.

"Falang eat can not." Chang explained to Jay that foreigners could not eat the same kinds of food. "You want pizza?"

Jay asked him if he could see the food, but was greeted with, "Never mind. Soi Seven." The tuk-tuk driver told him to not be concerned and announced his arrival at street number seven. The small taxi-like truck came to a stop and Jay stepped out handing Chang a fifty Baht note. Chang handed him a card with his phone number. "Go everywhere, can! I take you. You want girlfriend?"

"No, but thanks." Jay said as he stepped back and Chang drove off, with his hand tearing open the sealed package of ......what? Jay observed him popping, ......whatever it was, into his mouth. Jay had seen Thai people eat many things, like ants, rats, bats, cats, even dogs, but he never this live mass of .....what? It really pulled at his curious mind.

Jay strolled along street number seven, peering into every bar that he passed, admiring the girls, aware that possibly they were men. He wasn't very sure of the sex of the beauties that he was seeing, who were wearing the shortest shorts that were ever called clothing. How can a pair of shorts be as long as a shot glass? Every face smiled at him and beckoned him in. It was still early. Time to have a drink. Not time for spending hard earned money on skin. Jay found his way to the PuYing Palace and sat down in his favorite chair, facing the street and the stage, with the mirrored wall on his right. He could see everything from his vantage point.

Only three girls were in the bar now. His favorite, Chompoo, wasn't there yet. She would be there later, he was sure, he hoped. Chaa clicked up to him and smiled big. "Sawasdee kaaa. What you drink?"

"Soon Sawm Jet, Kawp." Jay replied.

She asked him what he wanted and he told her zero-three-seven in Thai. Jay thought he was clever for ordering a 037 (0=soon, 3=sawm 7=jet), which was Leo spelled upside down.

"A-lye wah?" Cha asked him 'what the fuck' in Thai, as she looked perplexed.

"Leo, Love. I would like a Leo beer," he said.

"Oh, OK! kaaa, kaaa!"

Chaa sang as she clicked her way to the bar in her extremely high heels. Jay smiled as he watched her walk away clicking clumsily, as if it was her first day ever wearing heels. So many of the girls working in Pattaya were farm girls from the Northeast, who only knew footwear as flip flops. He imagined this girl, Chaa, was innocent, inexperienced, maybe even a virgin. He entertained the image of her working on a farm, cooking food for her family and going to a temple. Yeah, right! She might be the girl from that scene, but she's also an ATM sucking leech like the rest of them.

Jay became instantly aware of the amount of prostitution that was going on around him when he first arrived at this location of the globe. He reasoned that this kind of activity was engaged in by less-than-perfect people, on both sides of the condom, or lack of one. His moral judgment likely came from being raised in a bible-thumping, gospel TV watching, government in your bedroom, adolescent self-righteous society. His less than perfect self viewed it a bit differently now.

Jay acknowledged that every man with a healthy sex drive, wanted to interact with something phallically comfortable. This was nature's way of insuring perpetuation of the species. It was a built in genetic fail-safe to keep the chromosomes dividing. A conspiracy concocted by DNA to create a never ending spiral of reproduction and replication.

Jay also supposed that women were not as horny as men because nature created another fail-safe, a way to put the brakes on, to avoid over-population. So, if this was the natural order of the universe, there could be no condemning it. If a woman, automatically born into the social ranks with lower status, could manipulate the penis-brained males with the tools she was born with, to better her life, than who is to say that she is, less than perfect? And how can I be so pious to judge the man who is part of this universal dance that involves a small exchange of currency?

A girl who can support her family without having to stand in mud, bent over planting rice for five dollars a day, is viewed as a smart person, not a sinner. The real sin is being poor. Jay had spent a year talking himself into this acceptance of, the way things are, and he thought that if there was a downside to selling your body for sex, it would be a decreased chance of finding true love, whatever that may be.

Within this philosophical, moral, societal, physiological and financial concept, Jay pondered, what was true love, anyhow? Is it the notion of one man, one woman, forever till death do you part? That is what the Western world preaches after all. But does a three century old society have the right idea, or does the three millennium old, Eastern society, have a more realistic approach? After all, this is the oldest profession in the world.

Jay had convinced himself that he was still a good person, trying to do good things, and succeeding in enjoying the good things in life, while still helping people out, which happened to be young sexy girls who needed money. In his heart, he just wanted someone to love, some one to fuel his engine, some one to be his muse. The attraction of young pretty girls was there, but in reality, it was very unfulfilling. Jay was a hopeless romantic at heart, and forever had a cloud of searching hanging over his head. He tried to forget about this for now. Drinking helped.

"Soon, Sawm, Jet!" She presented Jay a beer with a smile, a dimple and braces. Who is this beautiful creature Chaa anyway?

"Thank you, Krub!" Jay nodded politely and lightly placed the bottle cap back on top his beer bottle. He then placed the top of the bottle into his eye and pretended to twist it off with his eye socket. He turned the bottle cap around and fitted it, upside down, into his eye other socket, showing the 037, and gave his best pirate, "Yaaaaaaarrrrgh!" to Chaa, who giggled and again clicked away. Jay took a big swig straight out of the large bomber bottle, ignoring the bucket of ice and the glass that Chaa set down next to him. Who drinks beer over ice anyhow? Fuckin pussies!

"Bad teacher!" Money said as he suddenly appeared, pulled out a stool and plopped down on it next to Jay.

"What's up, Money? How were your monkeys today?" Jay asked.

"Monsters, not monkeys!" He corrected, "I had a katoi student hitting on me today, two Tomboys were fighting over another girl, one boy was shooting flames from a can of spray paint at a group of girls, and one innocent little twelve year old girl threatened the rest of the class with a knife."

"Typical day then, yeah?"

"Yeah, I suppose. And yours?"

"I think that three of my girl students might have seen a picture of Kelly, ass to the air, on my laptop."

"When are you going to bring her over here?"

"If I brought her over here, she would see what I see everyday and cut my dick off so I couldn't use it again."

"Why do you keep her on the line then, you know you aren't going back."

"Maybe, I will, someday."

"Hellooo, mistah hansum," Chompoo said as she joined the table, slinked into Jays lap and rotated her hips like a cat curling up in a pillow.

"Yeah, you're going back someday. Right!" Money jeered back.

"Chompoo, love, how are you?" Jay smiled and squeezed Chompoo's thigh.

"I am very goose! Kaaaa." Chompoo smiled back, and then gave Jay several kisses, which were, half a peck with the lips, and half with a poke and a sniff from the nose. These cute little kisses were like an animal smelling something all over, deciding what part smelled best to eat.

"I am going to puke." Came the words from his convulsing friend, Money.

"Find your own girl to puke on." Retorted Jay.

"That is exactly what I am going to do!" Money said as he walked away smiling.

Chompoo was smiling. Jay was smiling. This was truly the land of smiles, he thought.

¤

Kelly opened up her in-box on her work computer, disappointed to not see a reply from Jay. She couldn't get the image from her dream, of Jay's bloody mouth, out of her head. It was such a good dream, that she had almost forgotten about the ending. But it was the only part of the dream that she could remember now. Something about this dream seemed foreboding. She picked up her mobile and called him.

¤

"Teacher happy, Mai?" Chompoo whispered in his ear and slid a hand on top of his crotch with an added tongue tickle to his earlobe.

"Yes, teacher very happy." Jay said, returning the gesture. He ignored the phone singing in his pocket and stared into Chompoo's eyes. She continued giving him sniff kisses, on his eyes, cheeks, neck and forehead. He felt up and down her smooth sexy legs, intoxicated by the smell of flowers in her hair, intoxicated by the deep pools of languid, liquid-black desire in her big, beautiful eyes, intoxicated by her kisses and whispers of something imperceptible, almost song like. He drank in her beauty, her sexiness, her closeness and a few more beers. She kept him close in her sight, and the other girls she kept at a distance. He guessed she was marking her territory like a dominant bitch. Jay was her ATM for the evening. He would be her ATM, and so much more.

Meanwhile, Money was drinking shots of tequila by wrapping his lips around a shot glass that was nestled between the breasts of a busty Thai beauty, and by tilting his head back without touching the glass with his hands. Of course, by the code of manly- men, he would then swallow the shot in a single gulp. Next he would be in the direct company of another girl, who was ready for him with salt on her breasts that he would lick off, and lastly, he would retrieve a slice of lime, with his tongue, that a third girl was holding between her legs, and complete this unique and precise Mexican/Thai ritual by sucking the lime juice down with the salt. These famous interactive shots were called 'PuYing Puckers,' here at the palace.

After three of these engaging tequila shots, and four Chang beers, Money was glossy eyed, fired up and ready for anything. The spirit of celebration was upon the crowds gathered in the streets and bars. Money was spinning with this festive energy and imbued with the magic that tequila invites and evokes. The last round of shots didn't empty the bottle, so he didn't eat the worm this night. The bottle of Mezcal sat on the bar counter with the black plump worm resting on the bottom of the bottle.

¤

Kelly checked her email and saw an empty inbox. She tried to reach Jay a few more times to no avail. She felt unusually apprehensive today. She had gone a few days in a row with no contact from him, even though they usually corresponded at least once a day. There was no note, no poke, no SMS, no cyber-wassuup. Kelly didn't put much credibility into dream precognition, but being part Native American, from the Tsalagi tribe, she did have a connection to the dream-world and believed that everything was connected and not just random. What is Jay doing right now? She wanted to tell him to be careful and to not trust everyone.

¤

Jay and Chompoo were getting hot and heavy in his corner seat in the bar. She was on his lap, her hands all over his body, his hands all over hers. The little neck bites and ear nibbles he was receiving were arousing him more and more. With every little cute Thai sniff kiss, he could feel her absorbing some of his essence. His member was hard and pressing into her leg, yearning for carnal connection. She dug her nails into his back and inflicted a long, slow, sensual scratch. He winced a little from the pain, but enjoyed this stimulation very much. She never let her eyes move away from his eyes. Her gaze was fixed. His fate was sealed. He was entranced. He was putty. She stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked it in slowly. Jay did not see the blood from his back on her finger nails.

Money was wasted about now. He stumbled across the street and into the Happy Joy bar, where he was engulfed by the arms of three lady-boy katois that he did not identify as penis-wielding people. He thought that these were some of the hottest chicks he had ever seen, and they were laughing with him and kissing him, flirtatiously grabbing his ass in a feminine way. He felt like a rock-star.

They went through the large wooden doors under the red lights of the Happy Joy club and onto the dance floor. Money bobbed up and down, bouncing with his entourage, thinking he was quite the hip hop dancer. The three giggled and grinned in the lights and sounds of the crowded dance floor.

The wanna-be girls escorted this drunken man across the lighted dance floor and leaned him up against the bar, prompting him to order a round of drinks for them all. "Free shots of tekeewa prease!" he slurred at the beautiful green eyed Russian cocktail waitress who was staring back at him with evaluating eyes. She set four shots of tequila on the bar, three of them with a plump black worm at the bottom of the glass.

The four toasted each other, wishing each other good luck in Thai. "Chok dee kop!" They exclaimed as the glasses went up, the heads tilted back and the liquid and worms went down. Money gagged on his shot a little bit as it's contents entered him. He would not remember any of this, but he had a strange taste in his mouth and a nauseous wave came over him as he hunched over, with his head moving towards the floor. His head was spinning, his vision was blurred and his motor skills were fading. The katois he was with helped him into a standing position and propped him up, aware of his current condition. They persuaded him to order them each another drink.

Jay, about now, was ready for some loving. Chompoo took a foreplay pause and said she was going to the hong nam, the Thai version of what Jay knew as a bathroom, even though it had a hole floor instead of a toilet. He breathed heavily and rubbed his forehead. "Oh my God!" he exasperated. He was extremely aroused and lost in the twisting of limbs and squirming skin squeezing that he had been engaged in with Chompoo. She disappeared into the back of the bar and Jay slugged down the remaining dregs in his bottle of beer. He was feeling quite buzzed for only having had a few beers. He knew he could handle his liquor, but he felt more dizzy than he should have.

At that moment, a strange looking curly-haired man suddenly appeared and sat down across from him. He looked at Jay very seriously and handed him a slip of paper. "Put this somewhere that you won't lose it!" He pushed the paper into Jay's hand and then moved away as quickly as he had showed up.

"What the ....?" Jay stood up and tried to see where the man went but the odd fellow had disappeared into the crowd like a phantom.

As Jay was straining to decipher the strange writing on this slip of paper, he heard something that stole his attention away from everything else. All the blaring music beats went silent. The droning voices of bar-talk and drunken laughter ceased. Mysteriously, the word 'seeeeee' was the only audible sound, and it floated to him like a whisper.

Jay scanned the bar, looking for the source of this instruction, which was louder than any other sound in the noisy bar, yet still spoken as a quiet utterance. Again he heard the word, the sound, Seeeeeeee! Jay felt a gaze upon him. He searchingly looked forward and into the street, as if time had stopped. The crowd was not bustling, they were moving in slow motion. In the middle of the crowd, he saw her face. Her hair was black, curly, and hanging down to her waist. Within these locks of beautiful dangling black hair, he saw her eyes first, which made him forget everything, even his name. Her frame was petite with perfect sized breasts protruding from a sparkly golden top. She had long beautiful slender legs that reached down to the earth through a black mini-skirt. Her face was like an ancient goddess, the features strong, proud and breathtaking. She was stunning! And she was staring penetratingly into his soul through the busy crowd.

Like a bee sting that you aren't expecting, a hand slapped him across his face, and got his attention. The music, the crowd noise, and the whole club scene flooded back to him with a stinging reddening of the blood cells in his face. Chompoo was looking at him angrily and shouted at him with words that didn't register. He didn't comprehend anything that her irritated mouth was saying. He subconsciously slipped the paper that he recently received, into his pocket, and searched the crowd for the beautiful girl he had thought that he was sure he had just seen.

He was instantly charmed by this fascination and had to meet this elusive but unignorable person. In his scanning vision he saw her. He saw the back of her gold shirt and her perfect bottom, operating under a very small black skirt. He witnessed sexy legs that were carrying her away from him. Like a martial artist, Jay made a ducking maneuver, avoiding Chompoo's next slap, and he broke free of her interrogating efforts. He moved across the bar with passionate speed and into the street before Chompoo's fingernails could dig into his neck and pull his hair. Jay navigated his way around the people in the crowd, pushing himself towards the mystery girl in gold wrapping. He saw her enter the Happy Joy bar and he jogged to catch up with her as she disappeared into the dancing mass of drunken happy fools.

Once he was inside the bar, Jay scanned the entire scene to catch another glimpse of her. He saw Money being helped through a door at the back of the bar, assisted by three tall beauties. As Money was led into a back room, Jay saw the stunning beauty in gold following behind his friend through the same door. Jay hopped and bounced through the crowded dance floor to try to make it quickly to that back aperture.

"Man, can you believe there are dicks on these chicks? How's a mutha fucka to know what to get sweet on here?" Tone appeared and was grabbing Jay's shoulder and shouting into his ear. "I do NOT even think I want to put my balls on any of these eyebrows, at least not until I've had another dozen beers, Hah! What are you doing in here you peter puffer? Trying to see if girl dicks are bigger than yours? Or are you not opposed to having balls on your own eyebrows?"

"Not now man!" Jay shouted back, trying not to take his eyes from the back egress of the bar. He broke away from Tone's joking proximity and made his way to the closing door at the back of the bar. It was not locked and he walked into..... a scene that he had not yet seen in this country.

There were beds and sofas and chairs throughout the room, each occupied with Russian girls and dark haired katois. They were teasing and sucking and licking and fucking each other. What is this? Katois do not pursue women. There was something unknowable about what he was seeing. He saw the gold shirt of his destination pass through a curtained archway at the back of this room. Without an invitation he followed after her, not waiting to see what the response would be from him walking into this room and this orgy of strangeness.

He found himself in a dark corridor with many doors and a faint blue light giving just enough illumination to see the floor. He walked down the corridor and listened to what might be happening behind any of the doors. Jay figured he had walked into an underground meeting place for sex workers and customers of the fringe fetishes. He was intrigued to know what went on here at some level of his sexuality. Fascinated, excited, afraid, curious and horny, he kept probing forward, in hopes of finding the wonder that wanted him to, seeeee, her. He wanted to know where the golden beauty had gone, and what fetish she might fulfill. He just wanted to know this girl. He had forgotten about everything else.

Jay heard what he thought was Money's voice come from one of the rooms. He listened at the closed door. "Yo, Money! You in there?"

"Errrhhh!" Jay heard, recognizing his friends moan. Jay pushed open the door and walked in, his head spinning and confused. He didn't want to see Money getting busy with some ladies, but he felt the need to connect with his friend. He was looking for an anchor of something real to attach to, and maybe to help him find his most recent attraction. Jays head was spinning.

This night was becoming very strange, and then Jay saw what strange could actually be. Money was lying on a leather bed, naked, with his hands and feet strapped to some iron loops on the floor. Three beautiful lady.......boys, were kissing all over his body. In the faint blue light, Jay could see inch long black objects all over Money's body. Money was blindfolded and not struggling but moaning slightly. Jay thought he saw blood coming from the black objects but he couldn't tell what he was seeing. The katois were reaching their hands into a bucket and pulling out the black objects and placing them gently on Money's exposed chest. These dark images were attached to his chest, his arms, his ankles, his nipples, his penis, his balls, and locations all over his body. They were moving, squirming, wiggling. They were alive. They were le........

"Luem!" A tall, curly haired katoi spoke forcefully into Jay's face as she blew a handful of dust into it. Jay heard this sound again, luem...... lu..em......lu...........em.....

Jay's world went black.

CHAPTER 3 BLOOD LETTING

Kelly turned on John Coltrane and put some water on to boil for tea. She changed her mind and switched from Coltrane to some grunge. After half a song, it was a bit too monotonous and she went back to the smooth driving sounds that Coltrane could produce. That almost worked for her, but, her mood prompted something angry, so she found some death metal and blasted that instead.

She was pissed off, and didn't want to be soothed over by smooth Jazz sounds. Rather, she wanted to let some aggression escape. She stuffed some herbs in a tea ball and dropped it in a porcelain cup. She would enjoy a nice cup of flowery tea and scream the lyrics along to the far beyond driven beats. Something about high energy, profane music was a very expressive outlet for her, to voice her frustration and confusion.

I know why that shit is avoiding me. I'm sure he has his brains in his dick and is probably screwing a different girl every night, one that will suck him for everything he's got, not someone like me who will give him everything.

She wrestled with these thoughts as she poured water into the cup and watched it turn red from the hibiscus flowers. The red color reminded her of her dream, and Jay's bloody mouth. She howled along to the screaming lyrics and felt a bit of fresh energy as she daintily stirred her cup of tea in her grandma's china.

She turned on the shower and took off her work clothes, letting them fall to the floor in a heap and flung her socks across the hallway. After a ritualistic end of the workday shower, she got on the internet and surfed around. She was pissed that she hadn't heard from Jay for a few days now, and suspicions ran wild in her mind. She looked up Thailand nightlife on a search engine and saw image after image of sexy young girls, wearing next to nothing, dancing up on tall stages with brass poles, shaking and grinding, like the titty bars in the flats of Cleveland that had recently been shut down. It looked like there was nothing but go-go bars in Thailand when she explored this search. She was certain Jay was just trailing her along in case he needed a lover in the States. I'm not waiting around for that bastard to make up his mind, I am moving on and Thailand can suck him dry for all I care!

¤

Waking up in a cheap hotel room, Money was hot and covered with sweat, wondering where he was. The fan on the wall was not running, the only window in the room was open and his brain was swimming like a jellyfish inside the ocean of his head. He was still drunk, but his inebriated condition was evolving into a hangover. He felt drained and his head ached while his memory was lost in the lights and the shadows of some club in Thailand.

There was no one next to him in the hotel bed. He was alone. He saw his wallet on the bureau and went over to investigate it. It was void of Thai baht, but everything else, including his credit cards, was still there.

Thank Buddha! There were two used condoms and torn foil packages in the rubbish bin. Who? Was she any good? Did I enjoy it? At least I wore a condom. Condoms? These thoughts swirled through his spinning head. I must have given her all of my money, or maybe she took it, or maybe, she was a.......he? Oh shit!

Money remembered tequila and suddenly and felt nauseous. He released some of the previous night's drinks from his stomach into the hotel toilet from the same orifice that the tequila entered him through. I remembered three girls? Or were they katois? He wasn't sure. He remembered licking salt from a breast. Was it real or was it an augmentation?

Katois are fun to ride, like a moped, but you don't want your friends to see you on one. In spite of his growing morning sickness, he giggled between stomach spasms. Who knows what I did last night. I for sure didn't use mosquito spray, he thought to himself as he scratched with ambition. "Holy shit! They bit the fuck out of me!" He exclaimed as he looked at all of the red raised bumps all over his body, even on his scrotum. "Vicious little fuckers. Shit!"

¤

Jay woke up and clutched his head that was thumping, again. "Why do I do this?" he pondered, "Oh yeah, yesterday was Friday."

Jay raised himself to a standing position, got tangled in his mosquito net again and cursed it as he fought himself free. He mechanically went downstairs to inspect for motor bike damage. None this time. Did I even drive my bike last night? He questioned himself but he couldn't remember. Was I on foot? Yes! I remember a drunken Aussie guy. A tuk-tuk. Chang the driver....and? What else?

Jay reached in his pocket and pulled out a business card. Mr. Chang ~ Driver ~ Tour ~Airport pick up. There was nothing on the back of the card but a smudged brown fingerprint and a slip of paper stuck to it. He unfolded the paper and saw a script he couldn't read. It was similar to the Thai language but it wasn't quite Thai. Maybe Laotian, maybe Burmese?

Jay struggled to recall the events of the night before. He recalled Chompoo's sweet frame. The fog parted a little and he touched his cheek, feigning a smack. Was she mad at me? Did she hit me? Yes. And then like a ghost image, this face appeared in his mind. It was mysterious and beckoning. "I seeeeee you," it called to him. He heard that single word in his mind now, see.

This mysterious face had dark curly hair, a cute little nose, a Marilyn Monroe style mole on her upper lip, serious eyes, a pointy chin and high cheek bones. He could recall this face as if he had seen it every day for years. Who was this creature? Why am I remembering her? Did I meet her last night? What is this awful taste in my mouth? Scratching rigorously, Jay gouged red lines into his ankles as he attacked his mosquito bites with his fingernails.

¤

Mr. Sekott leaned forward to peer past the glare on his computer screen and get a clearer view. He was trying to see the chemical compound symbols that comprised a certain protein chain in a molecule that he was studying. "Arginine off the chart!" he computed.

Mr. Sekott was in a small bamboo and thatch pavilion, drinking bitter instant coffee and peering deeply into his notebook laptop computer. He was trying to solve a formula to combine amino acids in a protein molecule that could thwart attacks by viral laden cells. He was currently trying to create a physical barrier from the virus by using the amino acid argenine as the main component of the phospholipids external cell layer. This had become his life's work.

Four years ago, Sekott had traveled to Southeast Asia as a dirty hippie backpacker. He was hyper-intelligent but that increased brain function left him sometimes socially stunted. Traveling alone for half a year brought him to a remote village in Laos, where he enjoyed village hospitality and the village's herbal smoking mixture.

He stayed at this village for a couple of months, drinking lao khao rice whiskey, eating sticky rice with chili sauce and smoking from Bamboo bongs around a fire every night. He had Dengue fever one time and typhoid twice, which were the main downsides of his travels, but the villagers took care of him, and built a small bamboo shack for him to live in. He enjoyed the timeless, lifestyle, with no schedule and no commitments. He got drunk and stoned and sang songs with his Laos friends, often waking up dizzy and without recollection of the night before. He woke up one morning with a girl next to him on his grass sleeping mat. Her name was Nang, or at least, that's what he called her.

Sekott spent his days helping out with the rice farming and spent a lot of time hiking in the mountains and exploring the many caves and pools in the carved limestone landscape. This was a welcome break from teaching microbiology at Brown University. Sekott's constantly churning mind craved simplicity. Now, today, his mind craved one thing, a cure for his son.

Nang had been given to him as a wife, through a decision made by the village elders one night. Because the two had slept together, in a house owned by her father, this was considered to be a marriage. Sekott was not at all clear about how they ended up sleeping together that first time, but assumed it must have been because of the rice whiskey. Local custom suggested that they were legally married in the eyes of the villagers, legal by a village custom, not by legal documents.

The elders had decided that it increased their status to have a makseeda foreigner present, so they arranged to keep him. They had many reasons to do this. One, they knew that he had wealth and the village would benefit by absorbing some of it. Two, he could teach the English language to the villagers and increase their chances of attracting more foreigners, who they imagined would bring more money. And perhaps, most important of all, they wanted his genes, and his blood.

Sekott was at first indignant about this arrangement, which was a trap, but, at the time, he was struggling with typhoid fever and could not get up and leave. Nang took care of him night and day and was always at his side. At night, she would give him little gentle sniff kisses all over his body and sing him to sleep.

Even though he was sick, feeling the pleasure of her mouth and vagina wrapped around his member was certainly an exhilarating pleasure. After a few weeks, Sekott had grown accustomed to Nang, and accepted her as his de facto wife.

She was naturally beautiful without make up and hair treatments. She kept her hair pulled up during the day and held it on top of her head with a colorful flowery clip. At night, she let her hair down and it would hang over her dark skinned shoulders and breasts. Love making with her was animalistic and crude and very real, Sekott thought.

Mr. Sekott was a bit of an idiot savant. "He's so smart he's stupid," was the saying he used to hear back in the academic halls, from the other boys who taunted him. He was undoubtedly brilliant, but didn't have the ability to come down to other people's levels to communicate with them. Most people shunned him because of this inability to have a normal conversation.

Sekott, not being a social butterfly, did not have a lot of experience with the ladies of his home country either, but in Laos, he had Nang. He had a new family, he had an easy life and a constant buzz from cheap rice booze and plentiful ganja.

Nang got pregnant after two months of sleeping in the same bamboo shack with Sekott, and he became instantly enamored with being a father. His son was born on a full moon in August and the village celebrated for five days. Sekott remembered very little of that party. He remembered drinking with up to eight people at a time, sucking on meter long bamboo straws that were immersed in a plastic garbage bin full of Laos whiskey. As the people all sucked hard and gulped down the sweet fragrant drink, which Sekott thought was reminiscent of the taste of concord grapes and honey, a person would pour more whiskey into the communal drinking can from a hollowed out buffalo horn. If the can overflowed, they all had to drink again.

Laos drinking games were unlike the Cambodian drinking games that Sekott also vaguely remembered. In Laos it was sweet whiskey through a bamboo straw. In the country south east of there, it was hurried sucking on stabbed beer cans, much like the college drinking games Sekott saw the fraternity boys play at Harvard.

In the country of Laos, whiskey component solids were fermented and had a mediocre alcohol content, but the special drink could be replenished with water and lao khao for up to three days, to retain the sweet flavors and add a more potent kick.

His wife, Nang had lain with her new baby on a grass mat, exhausted, in a house with all women. People from nearby villages came to sing songs, get drunk and leave gifts. Sekott was startled to see his new son's arms completely covered with colorful string bracelets tied around them. Many of the bracelets had rolled up bills of Laos currency or Khip tied into it. The child was given about 300,000 Khip during this party. The music was loud and Sekott worried for the eardrums of his son, who would be named Krueng, but this wais how Laos people partied, and the music and singing went on, and on, day and night, for five days. Sekott's position in the village community was solidified after this event.

Throughout the ongoing day to day village functions, Sekott was kept in the dark about the inner workings of the village decisions and politics. He thought that there was something strange about it all. For one, every body seemed to be very young, even the elders were void of gray hairs or the wrinkled signs of aging.

Another peculiar thing was their choice of food. Sekott did not join them in one particular feast, which happened once a week, when the villagers would harvest large baskets full of leeches. The leeches were usually plump, having recently gorged on a host, and squirming, full of life. That is how they were eaten, alive, fattened with blood, and squirming.

During the feast, everyone grabbed handfuls of the living creatures and chewed them up, seemingly becoming high from the bloody meal. Sekott had tried many items of the local cuisine, but this, he could not. The villagers were not put off or angry that he didn't join them in their feast. Sekott imagined that they must have had an, 'Oh well, more for me' attitude about it.

He was accepting of their ways, as they were of his strangeness, but he became totally repulsed when he saw Nang squeezing one of the leeches, to drain the blood from it, into his infant son's mouth. He only saw that happen one time, and when he saw it he shouted at her to stop. The villagers had never seen him angry before and they all looked at him dumfounded, as if this emotion was alien to them. How could they give unhygienic, blood-sucking leech entrails to a baby? Sekott didn't think he could handle this particular cultural difference. Even the small children in the village ate the leeches at every feast. Nang made sure Sekott never saw Krueng eating the bloody meal again.

Sekott stayed with Nang at the village for almost a year. He was often tired and lethargic when he lived there. He attributed that to the whiskey and the smoke. Then, he thought it was possibly a slow recovery from typhoid fever, but after a year, he began to question himself as to why he was staying in this dirty third world environment, in ill health everyday.

One night, Sekott slipped out of his shack and his village, and walked all night before hitch-hiking to Savanakhet, where he got a Thai tourist visa and traveled to Chiang Mai. It was there that he made some startling discoveries, about his health, and about the blood inside the leeches that he brought samples of.

Soon he found himself working with an English professor at an International school in Chiang Mai. Sekott gained access to lab equipment and made some friends in the medical profession. He kept his research secret, and would work late at night at the university and at the hospital. He told his co-workers that he was working on a project to boost the immune systems of HIV positive carriers, and this gained him support, funds and the use of facilities.

What Sekott discovered was this. His own fat cells showed traces of opiate derivatives. He enjoyed the ganja but had not been smoking opium. Where did this come from, he wondered. He also found chemical compounds that were related to benzodiazepines. This anticholinergic compound affects memory and can induce memory loss. And how did this get into my body? he wondered. Being away from the village, and taking a respite from nightly drinking binges, brought strength back to him and the feeling of constant fatigue began to fade. He believed he must have been fed something by the people in the village, something to keep him down, and to affect his memory. Drugged. Why?

The next discovery he made created an even bigger, WHY? Sekott tested some blood from a pair of leeches that he brought with him, and learned that one of the leeches contained blood that matched his own blood type, and was of a human genetic signature. He clandestinely sent some samples of this blood to England to get a DNA test. The other leech he tested contained blood that matched bovine tissue samples. A cow or buffalo perhaps. Why were these villagers eating these foul creatures regularly? Sekott knew that nothing was wasted there, especially food, in that poor region of the world. He knew that people often cooked animal blood, and even added it, uncooked to certain foods, but this, this was perplexing.

While he was in Chiang Mai, he met a beautiful girl who was the perfect distraction from his cerebral labors. She was a charming beauty who spoke very good English, and approached him at a coffee shop one morning. For the next month they were inseparable lovers and he lavished her with presents, money and jewelry. Sekott had no idea what it was like to be poor, and money wasn't ever an issue for him.

He missed his wife and son badly, but this girl pleased him in ways he had never known, besides, he found her strangely impossible to resist. He would tend to forget all other things when he was with her. He spent his nights making love to her and his days obsessing about his research. He began to become lethargic again.

After the results from the blood DNA test results came back, Sekott confirmed that one of the leeches contained blood that matched his own body's vital fluids. He decided to go back to the village in Laos, and try to learn more about this oddity. He wanted to see Dang, and his son, and get them both away from the village, and out of Laos. He had to leave his new lover, which was not an easy thing to do. Somehow, he broke the spell of this tantalizing creature and slipped away in the early morning mountain fog.

¤

Jay walked to a coffee stand that a man named Jeng assembled every morning. Jeng would show up before dawn, raise a shade tent, roll in a portable cooking table, set up a few folding tables and a dozen plastic chairs and prepare hot drinks. The older men would all gather here to exchange wisdom and the latest gossip. Tuk-tuk drivers were always congregated next to this coffee stand to take turns giving people rides to where ever they needed to go.

Jay sat down there with a cup of black coffee, a cup of green tea and a cup with a two-minute boiled egg, mixed with soy sauce and white pepper, a drink that Thai kick boxers ingested for strength and stamina. He needed some power right now to cure his current hangover. Jay scratched his head and fought with his lack of memory from the night before.

Who was this enchanting girl's face? Whatever happened to Money? What is this slip of paper in my pocket? Some one gave it to me, in a bar maybe? He stopped trying to recall the last night's events and tuned in to the chatter going on around him and tried to interpret what the people were saying. He could understand a little bit of what he heard, which included many references to women, fewer about religion and many about being drunk. Some of the old men there were drunk already, and others, possibly more austere, were scrutinizing Buddhist pendants for sale using pocket magnifying glasses in order to get a very close look. Jay felt included in this clique by the way the men were always interested in the Buddha pendant that he wore around his neck.

Jay had been given several pendants by friends he made when he visited Phuket. One was a two hundred year old image of Luangpu Toowat, a monk with special powers that gave the wearer protection from bullets and sharp knives. Jay also wore plastic pendant vials containing elephant hair and a bullet casing, as well as a holy Sanskrit scroll written in monk language. These were said to give the wearer the ability to have eyes on the back of their head, protect the person from bodily harm and bless the wearer with good luck and good health, respectively. He didn't believe that it had any special magic other than accelerated cultural assimilation.

Jay was not Buddhist, but felt empowered by this collection of gifts that he wore around his neck. The old men took turns, surgically scanning his pieces with the magnifying glasses that they all carried. These men traded, sold and gave away their holy pendants much the same that Jay saw baseball cards valued in the states. It was a type of historical and religious commerce, that some people were educated in more than others, usually the older men.

Jay enjoyed this part of the Thai experience. He never thought of himself as old, but in his forties, he was in between being an idealistic teenager and a nursing home occupant. He felt a kinship with the older guys, and enjoyed the bits of gossip that he could understand. Amongst the older fellows, some one was always being yakked by their wife for cheating on her. This was the subject of the majority of the stories being told. Other stories included the boastful braggings about children and grandchildren, or about deaths in the family, or travels to the next city.

Sucking down his liquid egg breakfast, Jay looked over a tray full of religious pendants. One piece caught his attention. It had two snakes, or worms, encircling a monk's body. A strange sensation came over him, as if he had seen this before, but where? He couldn't place the emotion, and soon he discarded it and thanked Jeng for the coffee and eggs, paying for his breakfast with two ten baht coins.

"Oh yeah, could you tell me about this, Jeng?" Jay said as he remembered the slip of paper in his pocket. He asked Jeng if he knew the writing on the note said? Jeng looked at it, blankly and devoid of any indication of expression. A curious police officer that was standing there drinking coffee looked at the paper as Jeng handed it to the officer. The policeman looked up at Jay, intensely scrutinizing him. "Krai hai? Krai hai nee?" The policeman loudly asked Jay who gave the paper to him. Jay replied that he didn't know.

The officer handed the slip back to Jeng and walked over to his motorbike, never taking his eyes off of Jay. He got on his bike and drove away, still giving Jay a hairy eyeball and a disconcerting feeling.

Jeng handed the paper back to Jay and said, "Mai Bpen rye, never mind." Jay slipped the note back in his pocket and asked Jeng again if he had any idea what the writing said. "Just never you mind," Jeng said, with a fake smile.

As Jay began walking down the street, he put his beeping, inexpensive cell phone to his ear. "Hey man, stupid question again, but, do you remember seeing me last night and do you know who I was with?" It was Money repeating a question that had become common between them lately. "I can't remember anything past tequila breast-shots, and now I'm here in a hotel room near Chon Buri."

"Last night was a strange night, and I don't know what happened to you." Jay said. "I feel like I am supposed to remember something, but it's just beyond my reach. I saw you at the Palace, and then..... I am blank, except for a note in my pocket that I don't know where it came from or what it says, and, there's...."

"I am going to roll back to the bars this evening. I guess the best way to avoid memory loss is to stop caring about remembering what ever you forgot. We are having a blast in this town anyway! Who cares what we remember? Be here now, Right? Consciousness is over rated."

"Yeah, I guess you are right. Maybe we can hire someone to follow us around with a video camera and film us so we can see what we did."

"You've mentioned this crazy idea before. Did you forget already? Do you really want to know what we do?"

"Maybe. I can always hit delete. But, there's a woman's face in my mind. I can't stop thinking about her."

"Yeah, I know her! Her name is Thailand, and she's gorgeous, and she dances in every bar. She is waiting for you now, well, she's waiting for your wallet, any how."

"I guess I will have to open it up one more time then."

Jay tripped over a rock in the street and almost fell forward on his face. He took this as an omen about opening his wallet, which was bound to come true. After all, this is Thailand, and I am a farang, so I must be wearing a sign that says, 'ATM,' that only girls can see, beautiful girls at that. How could one corner of the world have so many beautiful, ageless, young women?

¤

I hope you are safe and I hope you are happy. I want you to know that I can not sit around here and wait for you to get in touch with me whenever you feel like. I have waited too long already, and I don't like to be kept waiting. I understand that a great distance separates us, and I think that it is too much to try and continue keeping a relationship going. You had many chances to show me that you wanted to create something with me, but here I am, wondering where you are, what you are doing, and who you are doing. Keep yourself safe. You know what I mean. You had a chance with me, but that chance has faded away. I don't think I can do this any more. ~Kel

¤

That was the last email that Kelly sent to Jay, one that he did not read the same day she reached out to him. Jay did not have Kelly on his mind, nor Chompoo. But there was a face, and a body, that he couldn't stop thinking about. He was haunted. He was charmed. He was hungry and hung over.

He found an open bar and ordered some rice porridge and sat down. He drank a beer to ease his body's rejection of sobriety. He watched the people moving about on the street and the beach.

A lady walked by with a wooden pole over her shoulder, supporting two large baskets containing eggs and fried pork skins. A man pushed a cart filled with hand made straw brooms. Pigeons scattered as kids with bamboo sticks came running by. Dogs chased each other to be the lucky one that carried the plastic bag snatched from the rubbish piles. Large bellied European men, wearing banana hammock swimming trunks got sunburned while walking on the beach hand in hand with dark skinned girls one fourth their size, and age. Trucks passed by with large speakers blaring messages for Muy Thai boxing matches, that had more Australian fighters than Thai. A lady-boy with a broken heel limped up the street carrying a poodle dressed in a clown outfit.

This was Thailand. How did I get here? What am I doing here? Why do I want to stay here? Jay questioned himself again. Then, he saw her face.

CHAPTER 4 CHARMING LAMAI

"Hello. Can I sit here?" She asked, her eyes looking straight at his.

With instant fascination, he tried to find his tongue, and produce sounds with his mouth. "Yeah. Yes, please!" He must have behaved like a high school kid he thought, nervous and excited.

"Are you here by yourself?" She asked.

He couldn't read her eyes. "Y..yes." he managed to get out. He was confused. Why is she here? He was amazed and lost for a moment. She looked beautiful, natural, sexy. He was intrigued, bewildered. He was in love, at first sight, if you believe in that kind of thing. This was the face that I saw last night, the one stuck in my head!

"It's really hot today. I think I am ready for a drink. Would you like to share a drink with me...." she looked to Jay and extended out to him a welcoming hand. "What's your name cutie."

"J...Jay, nice to meet you......" He accepted her hand with a lingering grasp.

"My name's Lamai. Nice to meet you too, Jay. Are you here for a holiday?"

"No, I've been here almost a year. I am a teacher at something something something school."

"I have never heard of that school, it must be new."

"Sorry, I still can not remember the name." God! I'm a geek!

"What do you teach, Jay?"

"I teach English to little monsters. What do you do Lamai?" She is so beautiful!

"I sell things." She waved to the cocktail waitress, "Red Spy please and...." She looked to Jay.

"Leo." he held up one finger. "So what do you sell?"

"I sell what ever people want."

"You mean like toasters and microwaves?" he said smiling. Relaxing. Pleased with his own wit.

"Do you need a toaster, Jay?" she smiled back.

"Do you have one for sale?" Who is this beautiful woman?

"No, but I can get you one if you really......."

"Just joking, Lamai," he paused and stared deeply into her eyes, "Are you here on holiday?"

"No, I told you I sell things. I am here on business. I am going to see if this bar needs any, supplies." She brushed a curly lock of hair out of her face. Jay stared at her lips, the mole on her top lip on the left side, the smallest upturn of her nose, her beautiful brown eyes.

A cocktail waitress with long legs, dressed in a green spandex Heineken tube dress, swanked over and set two bottles down on the table, a red Spy cocktail and a big bottle of beer, along with a bucket of ice with tongs and two glasses.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked, looking hopeful that he might.

"I don't think so. I do travel a lot. That is why I can speak English so well."

"You seem so familiar to me, like I know you already." Jay smiled.

She smiled and looked downward, with just the slightest hint of shyness. "Maybe.......from another life?" She looked back up still smiling, looking even cuter, Jay thought.

"Maybe........we could share some food tonight?" Jay proposed.

"That's very forward of you. What do have in mind?"

"Sushi?"

"I love to eat things raw," she said, staring seriously into Jays eyes.

Jay, not knowing how to take this, stared back, just swimming in those dark pools of blackness. "Did I see you last night?" He was sure this was the girl he remembered. "I think I saw you..."

"I was in Bangkok last night."

"Oh, OK. I.....you look like....some one... I"

"Business for now, call me later." She slipped him a note, took another swig from her drink and stood up. "I have to take care of some things now, call me tonight and I can meet you somewhere." She took her wallet out of her purse.

"No, let me get your drink, No problem!" Jay insisted.

"Thank you very big!" She said with a big, heart melting smile, and she walked off.

Jay stared at her backside features and was lost again. He was hooked. What is my name? He observed her butt cheeks rise with each step she took forward. He admired her strong shapely calves and thighs. A small amount of denim served as the shorts she was wearing, having only enough fabric to cover part of her bottom. She was stunning. He was in love, and in lust!

¤

Oleg was shouting in Russian at a Thai policeman who didn't understand anything he was saying. A tall katoi named Kukai stepped over and began to translate Oleg's rant into Thai for the policeman, with a little more sugar coating on the tone and the meaning. "He doesn't want to get involved." She said to the policeman. "He said that this is your problem and it would be best if you handled it." The officer's face was beginning to lose its ability to hide its emotions as it started to turn red.

After the policeman shouted back at her with a bit of saliva flying, Kukai turned to Oleg and said, "The police have been very good at turning their eyes away from everything you do. Now they want some special help to avoid a possible problem. They would like you to be the one to give this help."

Oleg, in a very condescending and irritated voice, said, "Tell this piss ant to remember that his family is very happy to be alive today, so it is not a good idea to poke a wasp nest with such a short stick. But, for fifty thousand baht worth of amphetamine, I will look into this situation, what is the teacher's name?"

¤

Sekott sat in a Pattaya hotel room looking at the results of a test where engineered protein cells were immersed in a solution with viral bodies. The results looked hopeful. This cell coating seemed to arrange itself into a shape that the virus could not physically invade. If this cell could survive and reproduce in this hostile environment, it could be the beginning of the cure he was looking for. He smiled and squinted at the results again.

He thought about what this could mean for his son, his wife, and himself. Thinking back to his return to Laos after his departure from Chiang Mai where he left his lover, he recalled his reentry. The villagers were not surprised or ecstatic to see him when he got out of the pick up at the village. It was as if no time had passed and as if he had never left. Dang was happy to see him and he embraced her for a long time. Her smile faded quickly though and she explained to him that Krueng was sick with a fever. He remembered feeling the heat on his son's forehead before he left, and he remembered his resolve to get his child away from the village.

Recalling the deceit he gave Dang, he thought of how he had spent a couple of weeks at the village and then told Dang that he had a job at another village about ninety Kilometers away. He convinced her that she and Krueng would have an easier life with good medical care and that they could visit her family in the village every week. She reluctantly agreed and soon they had moved closer to the city, Savaneket.

Sekott had lied about having a job and he spent his days at a clinic volunteering, in exchange for personal time in the lab. It was here that Sekott was able to test blood samples from himself and his son and his wife. He got the blood samples from mosquitoes that he captured, so his wife was unaware he was peering at her blood's cellular construction. Sekott discovered that his wife's blood was highly different from his own. Her cells contained an extra chromosome that produced chemical conditions for the creation of human growth hormone and stem cells.

These cells could be highly regenerative and long lived, but they contained a viral like mass of DNA that coded for assimilation of foreign blood cells into cells similar to the viral mass. He discovered that Dang's blood cells, when placed with his own, tried to change his blood cells into something similar to hers. Krueng, had mutations of both of his parents cells, and Sekott observed that Krueng's various mutations would attack each other, leaving his body defenseless against infections. That was when the professor had begun the work of finding a way to strengthen Krueng's blood cells to be more like his own, and secondly, to find a way to remove all the dueling mutations.

Krueng had been getting sicker, and regular antibiotics weren't helping him improve. Dang had wanted to go back to the village for traditional medicine but Sekott resisted. Sekott remembered having woken up one morning, looking at the sun through the leaves of a tree. He remembered being on his back, with his wrists, arms and ankles bound with rope. So much had happened since then, and now he was so close to changing it all. He only needed the right kind of help. He thought he might find it Chiang Mai, Thailand. That was where he learned of a possible contact who could help, and that was where he met a girl who would try suck him dry.

¤

Tone was leaning over a chair as bamboo needles pierced his back again and again. He winced with pain and gritted his teeth. He wondered how many more times this sharp object was going to break his skin. He hoped that he could endure this torture. Why does it have to hurt like this? Why did I talk to those guys on the side street anyhow? The sharp bamboo broke through his skin again and again. The man pushing the stick in had no sympathy. He just kept drawing blood, and more blood. Tone moaned a little but the giver of pain did not seem to notice and he definitely didn't stop.

Tone was a young musician from many places in America. He had family in the south but he had always been a journeyer and a seeker. Tone followed hip hop and rap events across America and had a very unique, esoteric style that put him in a small group of artists. His lyrics were often so deep that no one understood what they meant, but when the crowd was drunk enough, and the rhymes were right, they cheered every line as if they had been along with him since childhood.

Tone's latest idea was to live and experience the world, and have completely fresh ideas for lyrical and musical compositions. That brought Tone to 'wild night Pattaya,' where there were hundreds of ideas for new songs, if he could remember any of them. Like his friends, Jay and Money, they all suffered from having too much fun and a lack of memory of the night life they engaged. Along with itchy mosquito bites and hangovers, they also regularly suffered from fatigue in the mornings.

"Oh shit this hurts!" he sweated as he endured the pain. There was nothing he could do about it. His oppressor was steady and consistent, artful at drawing blood. This was Tone's first Thai tattoo. He wanted local-style ink inlayed by the traditional bamboo method, but he didn't know it was going to hurt so much. Hunching forward, leaning over a chair, Tone was unable to see the artful pain occurring on his back.

The artist, whose name was Toy, moved his hands as fast as a tattoo machine could go. His assistant, Angung, leaned over watching the art unfold. A half bird, half human deity came to life on his back. Toy would use two needles, one with ink, one without. He always made a dry pass first, an inkless tattoo that would bring fresh blood to the surface. He would then make a second pass with the inked tool, pressing the ink deep into the already bleeding epidermis. After every inkless pass, Angung would wipe the blood with her finger, Toy would then apply the ink, and Angung would lick up the blood, or stick it in Toy's mouth. "Oh Shit, Naga, that hurts!" Tone complained.

¤

The sun crossed the sky and then hid behind the coastal hills. Lights came on, turning the landscape into a glowing universe of blinking and flashing eye grabbing attractions. Girls slid their bodies against brass poles and danced up on stages above the horny onlookers. Lady-boys fooled manly men who were sure that they were not interested in men before this night started. Dogs roamed the street waiting for anything to be discarded that might be edible. Sex workers roamed the streets looking for any farangs that might be exploited.

Farangs were so stupid and easy to manipulate. They would believe anything they were told if there were tits or an ass staring them in the face. Behind closed doors, in the clubs you paid at the door to get into, ladies performed shows, popping balloons with darts and razor blades that they launched from their pussies. Ping pong balls whizzed into the crowd and drunken tourists with ping pong paddles tried to hit them back. Girls lathered each other up in soaking wet shower shows. Live sex shows promoted couples getting it on. There was guy on girl, girl on girl, guy on guy, dog on girl, python in girl. You could watch anything you were into there, and other things that you weren't.

Katois walked in front of the bars in flashy Vegas style cabaret costumes. Vendors walked around selling cigarettes and souvenirs. Booze could be bought by the bucket, with thirteen shots of whatever, soda, ice and five straws. Ladies tried to lure the crowd into massage shops for a relaxing rest. Children tried to sell plastic flowers and chewing gum to any pale skinned passers by. Tailors tried to pull men into shops full of fabric, enticing them with how good they would look in some new expertly tailored shirts. Long haired dudes wearing South American army hats offered ganja, cocaine or meth for a discount. Old ladies with wooden poles on their shoulders carrying baskets of food were trying to sell their eggs and crispy fried pork rinds, which were more palatable to the drunk man's mouth. This was Pattaya, any night, every street. This was the destination for penises, backpackers and crooked police.

¤

It was night time now, and Jay called the number on the note that Lamai handed him earlier. He was very much looking forward to seeing her again. "Helloooo. Swasdee kaaa!" She answered.

"Hello Lamai, I'm at Oy Kyo Sushi restaurant, near the Kinnery hotel, can you meet me there?"

"OK. Kaa. See you in a half hour." Jay sat at the bar and ordered some hot Saki. He sipped on it and anticipated the evening ahead. Saki so smooth, energizing and invigorating, like Lamai, went sliding down his throat.

¤

Tone finished getting his new tattoo and checked it out in the mirror. It was the Garuda. Powerful. Divine. "This is the shit, man! But god damn, why'd you have to hurt me so bad Naga?" He was tired after this experience, but Toy and Angung were looking lively and energetic, and ready for the next customer. Tone set out to find himself a date with his favorite girl with the long neck, beer Leo.

¤

A scruffy Russian man leaned against a post and lit a Wonder Red cigarette. He took a deep drag from it, then blew out the smoke with a small sigh as he stared at the sushi restaurant windows from a short distance away. He saw a foreign teacher sitting inside, alone, throwing back shots. This was his mark. Another job, and there would be payment tonight. No regrets. No sympathy. Cold, calculated, no fuck ups.

¤

"Hello, how are you?" Lamai put her hand on Jay's shoulder and smiled big at him. Her white teeth were perfect, like her tan face. Jay lit up. They sat and ate and talked and joked. She wore a loose black top and a tight red skirt. Again, she was stunning! She used her gaze, her smile and her eyes to entrance Jay. She was perfectly charming. He didn't have a chance. He was hers, and she knew she had her mark.

Jay asked her to spend the night, and she barely teased him before saying yes. Putty, he was. Jay was amazed at how much food such a petite little bird could eat. She was amused with how stupid farangs were, especially this one. They would believe anything, like Jay was believing that this mystery woman showed up, out of the blue, by good karma, and was going to make his life better. All she had to do was smile, and she got what she wanted. She wanted Jay for a variety of reasons.

When they were finished, they stood up from the table, stuffed full of raw fish and rice, ready to move outside. Jay, chivalrously suggested that he pay for dinner. She permitted him to.

A man in the shadows outside was invisible to everyone else on the street. Jay and Lamai left the restaurant, and Jay, thinking he was smooth, put an arm around Lamai's slender waist. She allowed him this contact. He let his open palm touch her belly and hip. No protest. No pushing away. Her body felt very good to his touch. He let his thumb rise further up her torso and his pinky drifted closer to her ass. His fingers were spread wide as possible to cover as much surface area as possible. He became aroused instantly. He felt magnetism between his hand and her pelvis. He wanted to have her, now.

She was going to drain him, in more ways than one, she thought. Then, suddenly, something tingled on the back of her neck. Her hair stood up. With out wasting a second, she pushed Jay into the street, pulled a small knife out of her purse and turned around, her arm extended, and placed the blade into the neck of a thick skinned stocky man. The man was slightly off balance from his lunging movement towards his target. This was his last error of judgment. He gasped and clutched at his neck which was spurting blood. His jugular had been surgically severed. His knife fell to the pavement with a clang. Lamai tucked her knife back into her purse.

Jay caught his balance, turned to look back at the commotion and was stunned at what he saw. This little petite creature had just subdued an attacker and probably saved his life. She had a wild look in her eye. She waved for Jay to follow her. They ran down a hill on a dark street, then followed a small alley between two buildings. They emerged into an outdoor kitchen in the back of a food court eating center. She quickly placed her hands in a barrel of water and began washing the blood off of her face.

"What the fuck?" Jay spouted, "How did you know that was coming?"

"I just know," she said "when something bad is about to happen."

"Who was that? Why...."

"I don't know, but let's get out of here."

"Where?"

"My place."

"Twist my arm." he joked, but he wasn't really feeling like laughing. He was totally confused about what had just happened. He guessed it must have been a random mugging. He wondered who was this sexy little bad ass? Lamai and Jay walked to the front of the restaurant and grabbed a cab. She was looking very serious, and that sexy, smiley shine of hers was replaced with a purposeful, mysterious stare, that was even sexier than what Jay had seen that first memory-fogged night.

Lamai quickly waved down a pink taxi and pushed Jay in to it, not wasting any time. She looked at Jay very intently. "Forget about what just happened!" she said.

"But what..?" he tried to ask a question, and then he was cut short by her lips pushing up against his. She pressed her face onto his and grabbed his thigh. She kissed him hard and began to rub the outside of his pants on top of his cock that took two seconds to get hard, despite just having almost been killed.

The adrenaline from the attack, running together through the streets, the fact that he was just thrown into the back of a taxi cab by a small-framed, bad-ass little girl had him reeling with excited energy, and he was lost in this passionate moment. Lamai's body and tongue were beginning to merge with his. This was so completely entrancing to Jay. He was lost in this heated engagement, in the back of a taxi, kissing a beautiful sexy stranger who just saved his life. He felt like he was in a provocative erotic movie.

He grabbed her hair on the back of her head and pulled firmly, having a good grip on her skull in which to kiss her with all of his might. This was the sexiest kiss he had ever felt or delivered. Maybe it was the sexiest moment he ever felt. Her hands dropped downward. He heard the sound of metallic friction as he felt his zipper open, and then, wet soft mouth was swallowing his hardness. He was feeling overwhelmed with sensation.

¤

A man lay in the street dying, dying, dead. A pool of blood formed around his head. Two children walked up to this gruesome sight together, unafraid. A young boy and a young girl, both about ten years old, bent down to have a better look, to see if the man was breathing, if he was alive. He was not. They looked at each other, then bent down lower, and began to lick the blood from the street.

CHAPTER 5 ENTRAPMENT

The cab driver pulled to a stop in front of a white cement block house on a residential street that was not the ghetto. Jay was not ready to stop. He was ready to shoot a load through the roof of the cab. Lamai released her suction on him. Jay, panting, pulled his jeans back up and got out of the cab following behind Lamai who had already exited. She paid the driver, unlocked her house and slipped inside. Jay walked into the dark house following her like a puppy dog.

"Lamai," he called, not able to see anything. Suddenly, a cloth was wrapped around his eyes. A knot was fastened at the back of his head and hands touched his neck. Gentle extremities slid down his back to his waist and then worked their way around to his zipper, which came open again, for the second time in the last half hour.

An experienced woman knelt on the concrete floor in front of Jay, fondling his maleness and she then began to feast. She teased him slowly at first and then began working him energetically. She gave little Thai sniff kisses all over his member, his waist and his thighs. Jay was out of his mind again. She was working him into a frenzy of pleasure. Then she stopped. There was no sound.

Jay felt with his hands at the empty space all around him. Where is she? "OK, darling. I'm ready for you!" Jay called out, standing there, his pants around his ankles, blindfolded, defenseless and vulnerable. Still, there was no sound.

Jay reached for his blind fold to take it off. Small and delicate but strong hands stopped him from removing the scarf. Those small hands put Jay's hands down at his sides. He obliged her forcefulness and kept still. He felt his shoes being removed so he tried to aid her actions by stepping out of them. This she permitted.

Next he felt his pants being pulled down to the floor with the techniques of a skilled farmer strategically peeling the bark off of a rubber tree. He felt a hand hold his and lead him forward. He followed. One blind step at a time, he was sightlessly directed into a room with smooth tile floors, a small room by the sounds of the echoes of his moans.

A dripping sound emerged from the darkness. Warm water began to cascade over his hard penis, and down his thighs and legs. His hands were guided to rest on a slim waist. He grabbed a hold of it. A beautifully soft, bare ass, backed up against his crotch. It danced over his pelvis, grinding and beckoning him. She guided herself onto him and her wet dripping challis swallowed his athame.

In the warm cascading water, he drove into her with untamed motions. They both moaned loudly. He became very vocal now, creating reverberating noises in the hollow sounding room. Then, with exploding force, they climaxed together. It was during his first pulsation that her body was triggered into orgasm. They came together, loudly, vigorously, dripping wet and shaking with pleasure.

Jay removed the blindfold to look at where he was. He saw Lamai's beautiful, naked, wet, shaking body. He was in a bathroom with the shower running. She came very hard and was still trembling from her orgasm. He kissed her hard on the lips and enveloped her in his arms. He peeled off his wet shirt and pressed his bare chest against hers, feeling the heat, feeling their heartbeats pounding.

They kissed and licked and nibbled on each others mouths and lips. She took him by the hand and led him out of the bathroom. She walked towards the stairs and took one step up. Jay held her hand tightly and stopped her from ascending. He yanked her back to him and wrapped his arms around her again. Kissing him madly, she grabbed his still hard member and slid it back into her soft wetness.

She grabbed a hold of the railings and leaned back. He lifted her pelvis and her legs came off the stairs. He drove into her with renewed force, her legs in the air, her arms holding on tightly to the railing. They came again, together, before reaching the top of the steps.

They detached from each other and went upstairs, Jay following Lamai like a loyal servant would follow his master. She fell back onto a soft bed, with Jay falling on top of her. Again, they kissed and entwined. He grasped an ass cheek and pushed her legs apart with his knees. He slid into her with ease. He couldn't believe how good the sex was with her. She was surprised too. She didn't have to fake anything, her orgasms were real.

He was amazed he was still hard. He was lost in passion each time they came together. It was as if their bodies were a perfect match. He felt the strength and stamina of an animal inside him. He was fucking her like an animal, like a god incarnate for the purpose of experiencing human pleasure.

They made noises together, clawed at each other, squeezed, smacked and tenderly touched each other, before they fell into a restful, deep sleep in each others arms, still holding onto each other tightly, satisfied and spent.

Jay woke the next morning in an unfamiliar bed, with an unusually large smile. He saw light coming through a window with white curtains. He was naked and seeing the world through a pink mosquito net. The room was glowing softly in the crisp morning light.

He had forgotten all about having a stranger attempt to murder him and Lamai. He didn't know who the attempt was on and he didn't remember it after a night full of passion. It had already faded and become a non-issue. He stretched his arms and yawned. He felt a body next to him. He turned and saw Lamai.

She was curled up, in a fetal position, and looked beautiful while she slept. Was I intimate with her? He couldn't remember. He remembered eating sushi and smiling at her. He remembered Saki and sashimi. He remembered soft yellow lights hanging down from the ceiling like dripping flowers. He vaguely remembered an unpleasant event outside the restaurant, and running away from the place as fast as he could, and that was it.

I must have had sex with her. We are both naked. Why can't I remember anything? How could I have been with this dream girl and not remember it? How could he have been almost stabbed, witness this beauty enact a self defense murder and then run for his life, with no recollection of anything?

He knew he didn't want to let this current opportunity get away from him, regardless of what happened last night. He had a beautiful naked girl in bed with him now, and he would remember this moment. He rubbed her shoulder. She grunted and rolled over, giving him a view of her long curly hair hanging down her slender back, and her beautiful, heart shaped ass. He spooned up to her and was hard in an instant. She parted her legs a little, allowing him entry, in spite of her desire to stay in the dream world. He was in her again.

She pushed backwards, into his thrusts. Together, they came. Together, they reenacted this ritual again once more. Jay was feeling about seventy percent OK, due to the thumping in his head, but he was feeling quite good about just having two rounds in the sack with this lovely creature.

"I hate to ask, but, what did we do last night?" he sheepishly grinned.

"You got drunk and I took you home and put you to bed, silly farang," she replied.

"Did we, have....-pause-.... sex?" Jay asked with reservation.

"I did for sure. But I don't know about you. If you don't remember, then.......maybe?"

He rolled his body over top of her, pinning her down with his weight and his size. He stared into her eyes with searching desire. She smiled and tried to get out from under him. He kept her pinned. In her struggle to squirm away, he became erect again, and he squirmed his way into her again. The morning session was not yet over.

That afternoon, they repeated the acts of the morning, and after eating some food that she prepared, they were at it again. They were fucking like school kids discovering what adult life was all about. She was amazed he could get hard so many times, with a pill she guessed, but she wasn't sure. He was amazed that he could come so many times and still be ready for more, and he didn't even take any pill for this episode.

He experienced a vitality that he had never felt. She too, found this to be more satisfying than she anticipated, and she gave her body over to the pleasure that they invoked together. It was hard enough to find a farang that didn't repulse her, let alone one that could please her. But this, a not-bad looking farang with a young person's stamina and ability, was a bonus for sure. Not only could she accomplish her goals with this man, but she could have physical pleasure in the meantime.

Jay stayed with Lamai all weekend. They only left the house to purchase take out food and drinks. They made love like rabbits, and Jay impressed her even more when he showed her what he could do with his tongue and mouth. Her pleasure was a big ego boost for him. Every time she came, he sucked on that energy like he sucked on her labia. He wasn't sure what he preferred more, his own or her orgasms, and when they came together, they couldn't tell for sure whose orgasm was whose. Jay had never experienced timing and synchronicity like this. He was hooked, and she knew it. He was trapped. For her, this deception was easy.

¤

Money and Tone didn't see Jay all weekend, and discussed his absence on their way to the bar. They couldn't reach him on his phone either. But Tone was all about his new tattoo and was taking his shirt off in the bar every chance he got, to show it off to giggling girls, and give them a chance to see his treasure trail. The tattoo was sore and scabbing over a lot, more than he remembered tattoos did. This tattoo was a tribute to his higher self. Yes, he was still human, but he considered himself to simultaneously be a manifestation of the divine, represented by a bird.

He could be both above and below at the same time, macrocosm and microcosm. His metaphysical mind saw everything as a chance for earthly pleasure, as well as a chance for transcendence and enlightenment. He was drawn in two directions at once, all directions at once. One of the best ways he found to deal with this kind of spiritual insight was to achieve inebriation.

Tone was always singing, everywhere he went. He often wore large headphones and would climb into a world of beats and melodies while effectively shutting off all of the stimuli around him. He loved being here in this part of the world, but he also saw the hypocrisy and saw the stagnant lifestyles that people lived.
Tone often carried a notebook that he wrote full of ideas, lyrics, designs and any random things that impressed him at the moment. He used to write down the sayings on all the t-shirts that he would see people wearing. Sayings like "I'm smile because I'm don't now" and "Canverse All-Step." There was "American style Campus life Good happy" and "I don't do drugs I am drugs." He especially liked and wondered what was up with the pictures of Che Guevara standing in front of an American flag with swastikas on his hat? Everything was a copy, a fake, a counterfeit wanna-be western style, but know one knew what they slogans they were advertising, except for Tone that is.

It was funny to him how there was such an attempt to be Western, fashionably speaking, but everyone was living in a little box, afraid of trying anything unfamiliar. People on one hand wanted to embrace and imitate the Western societies, but not really accomplish anything except wear a misspelled, misrepresented t-shirt.

Tone often wanted to know what was up with everyone calling him a "falang?" Local people claimed that falang was not a derogatory term, but when they generalized the entire world outside of their neighborhood into one category, and believed that the entire other ninety seven percent of the world that was one genre of people, they were prejudiced bigots full of preconception and socially incorrect ignorance as far as he was concerned.

It was explained to Tone that the word "Farang," was an evolution of the Thai pronunciation for the word France which they called "Farangset." The French were one of the first white-skinned foreigners on the scene in Siam, so Farangset, became synonymous with foreigner and pale skin. The word changed to farang due to the lazy tongue and lazy speech. But, Farang also meant potato. Tone could hear an imaginary soliloquy of Samuel Jackson saying, "Do I look like a mother fuckin Potato bitch? Do I?" And since the word can also mean a guava, which was it, he wondered.

"So what is it mother fucker? Am I a potato, or a mother fuckin guava?" The Laos word for farang is "makseeda", which also means potato. "So don't fuckin tell me farang means foreigner, when you are actually calling me a potato, bitches!" The imaginary Samuel Jackson had a point there. The Laos people aren't calling the lighter skinned people by the polite term, foreigner. They are calling them potato. "So don't try and convince me, that farang means French, mother fucker! Do I look like a French fried potato to you? Do I mother fucker?"

The funny thing is, Tone thought, These bitches are calling me a vegetable with white flesh. Does my dark-ass skin look white to you? He was darker in complexion than almost everyone in Thailand, and they still called him falang. As much as he hated to hear that word, and he heard many times everyday, he managed to smile and wave every time he heard it. Children would stop and point and say, "falang." Parents would stop and say, "falang," and point him out to their children, like an animal that wondered out of the zoo and onto the pavement of the city.

Most of all, Tone hated being grouped together with all of the other lame-assed tourists that came here to behave badly. He was not like any of them he insisted. He was an existential poet, a weaver of the multiplicity of observations from all dimensions known and unknown. He was the Fool, the King, the Prince and the Aeon. Tone would channel Mr. Jackson at will and he addressed them again, "what is up with all you, falang- saying mother fuckers, covering your skin with every kinda whitening cream, lotion and deodorant, you crazy bitches? Do you really worry about making the skin under your arms turn more white? Who the fuck sees your armpits anyhow?"

Tone was distressed to see discoloration on his face one day, but he learned that it was caused by the titanium oxide whitening ingredient in the soap he was washing with. He imagined that if Sammy was here he would say, "The grass is always greener on the other muther fuckin side of the fuckin fence! Whassup wit dis crazy fracking world? European tourists lather up with dark tanning lotion and lie out in the sun all day. Asian people cover their bodies with whitening cream and hide every inch of their skin from the sun like it is some kind of poisonous, death ray, laser beam. Ain't nobody happy with the skin they're born in? Riggidy Raow!"

This was the beautiful irony of this land of contradictions. Tradition that was rich in color, song, pageantry and food, but it held people captive in fear of anything else different from what they were used to. He had second thoughts about teaching English here. He wondered if being part of the capitalist movement and speaking the business tongue of English, was doing any one a favor here anyhow. Tone considered it might give the country an edge in competing in global markets, but would the cost of that edge be the forfeiting of traditional ways to be replaced by greed-mongering tactics, he wondered.

Perhaps the greed is already here, he thought. It seemed that the only drive for anyone to learn English was to have a better chance of marrying a farang and sucking him dry of his financial wealth. These thoughts, occurred to Tone, but he never lost any sleep over them. It was just a base compound in the DNA of all of the observations that he ever made, destined to become lyrics in some strand of esoteric rap. It didn't matter how many cons there were to living here, with the abundance of beauty and youth, Tone was trapped.

"Money spent his Sunday -with a honey -on a sunny...beach -with funny -playboy bunnies -carrying gunny sacks -with cunning lucrative quests -so stunning to the guests." Tone spit some random gibberish, he deemed nonsensical –deliberateful -good not evil -and smoked a bowl, with Money, as they walked and talked and sometimes balked at chasing some more hotties. Tone not only sang in a unique Hip Hop style, but he talked and thought, spoke and reasoned in the same rhyming method.

Siam beauties were on the streets trying to lure tourists into the many massage shops with glass walls boasting the many cuties inside beckoning all onlookers. Money decided that one of these Siam beauties was convincing enough to give him a massage, after he just said no to the last hundred or so beauties. They would appeal to him to lay down for a, "Maaaassssaaaage," as they seductively lengthened those two syllables.

Tone declined again, having new ink on his back. He didn't want to be rubbed on, even though he knew that he could forgo the therapeutic part of the massage for the more pleasurable, happy sort of ending to the massage. Money was eye-lassoed by the beautiful eyes of a girl named Apple, and he went inside a massage shop with her, hand in hand.

"He's gonna give her many baht, he's never gonna see her twat, she'll rub his cock until it's shot, a little load, no not a lot, because that's all that sucker's got." Tony sang, as he rhymed his way on down the street, bobbing and swaying to the ever present rhythms playing in his world.

Money was led into a chair where he was asked to, "Sit down, please!" He removed his flip flops at the door, because he knew it would be very bad manners to enter anyone's home or shop with these still on your feet. Apple brought out a large bowl of water and washed Money's feet in it and then patted them dry with a towel.

He always thought that it was so empowering, to have a beautiful young female, kneeling down, washing his dirty, stinky feet. When she was finished she rubbed some mentholated salve on his ankles and heels, pausing to observe the small scabs all over them. After this part of the ritual he was offered a plastic cup full of water, which he swigged down and held the empty cup out for more. Apple raised one eyebrow and went and filled the cup again, which money emptied as quickly as the first.

She took his hand and led him back into a curtained off area that contained a cotton futon on a wooden table. She handed him a pair of large silk pants and walked over to a table to light some incense. There were beautiful Thai tapestries with mythical creatures and angels painted and embroidered onto them.

Apple turned on a soothing instrumental CD accompanied by ocean wave sounds. She gestured for Money to lay on the futon. Money lie down on his back, smiling with a devious, 'I'm gonna get some,' shit eating grin, but she gestured for him to turn over. He flopped his body over and buried his face in the scented pillow and his crotch into the futon. He felt very relaxed and excited to get this thing started, and even more excited to finish.

Apple started working on his calves and thighs first. Money let out a sigh. He loved Thai massage. He loved Thai hand jobs even better. He knew there was such a thing as straight massage places, but around this part of town, that would be very unlikely. He remembered being very embarrassed one time when he removed his pants in a shop that did not engage in that activity. This offense was not serious though, and the masseuses just laughed and told him to put his pants back on.

With Apple's soothing hands, Money soon fell asleep. It was also due to the fact that he had drunk several beers today, and recently swallowed two cups of water laced with a sedative. When Apple was sure that her client was dead to the world, she extracted her tool kit. Money didn't know it, but he was trapped.

From her tool kit, Apple withdrew a long sharp hypodermic needle. She screwed a hose fitting onto it and then connected it to a clear plastic tube. She smacked Money on the back off his head twice. He didn't move. She grabbed some skin on his back and twisted, giving it a hard pinch. No reaction. She began to survey his feet, looking for the perfect entry point. She found it.

On the top of his foot, just above his toes, some nice blue veins bulged a little. She inserted the needle with surgical precision and slapped his skin just above the penetration to encourage the flow. She began to salivate as she placed the tube in her mouth. She released the stop on the tube, and the red fluid began to flow into the plastic hose. She started to shake as she watched the blood, like rising mercury, push through the clear tubing towards her mouth. As the blood reached her mouth, she moaned and closed her eyes, beginning to suck. It was feeding time.

She let the warm fluid flow down her throat and she began to see visions of beings of light, floating in the sky. Bright luminous bodies with closed eyes, sitting in the lotus position in large white flowers, floating above all of them, were present for this ancient ritual.

She swallowed mouthful after mouthful of this delicious, life sustaining fluid, and she felt his power come into her own veins. She drifted into a trance-like state as she humbled herself before the visions of light and let her body be replenished. She thanked the luminous ones and closed the stop on the tube. She knew when to stop draining. She would never kill a customer....not again.

She had drank just enough blood to satisfy herself, and left just enough in Money to prevent him from being too weak. He would awake in less than an hour, after the sedative wore off, and he would be tired, but not dead. He would of course have a headache and a hangover from the sedative, but every farang had these anyhow, she thought.

He would have a small scar that would look like a mosquito bite. It would look a lot more like a mosquito bite than those scars that the country girls left on people's skin using their dirty farm leeches. She did not think favorably of crude rural people and she never wore the religious leech pendant that she always saw them wear. She was from a more educated breed of special people, who had much more contact with the supernatural world that took part in their activities.

¤

It was Sunday evening. Jay lay asleep on Lamai's bed, passed out hard. He was spent. He was exhausted, satisfied and unaware of anything around him as he slept through a drug induced nap. Lamai began working her craft.

She knelt before her shrine and lit two candles. She grasped a figurine of a male body and held it between her hands. She closed her eyes and offered this figurine up to the air above her, speaking this incantation; "Let this be, as above, so below. Let this image be the counterpart of this person I know. I evoke the spirit of this man, incarnate, breathing, the living soul. Into this idol, into this figure your essence shall go."

She stood up and walked over to Jay, carrying the figurine. Next to the bed, she retrieved a shot glass with a white viscous fluid. This fluid was a ritualistically used portion of Jay's semen. She had sucked him off earlier and received a mouthful of his ejaculate for her efforts. Jay did not see her spit his seed into a glass. She now took this stolen fluid and poured it over the figurine, letting it drip onto Jay's body while reciting, "seed and power from within, be present in this statue of him. Be alive in this realm apart from your own. Be trapped inside this metal and stone."

She laid the figure on Jay's chest, and then drew ancient Thai sigils on his body with her finger that was dipped in his semen and dipped in her own viscous fluid. She licked the artifact, and then licked the symbols drawn with semen. She then took the figurine and slowly pushed it into her vagina, moaning and chanting softly as she did, "The power of my woman blessing, is where all of your thoughts are nesting, no more deciding, your free will lessening, I now control your consciousness wrestling."

Lamai left this effigy of Jay inside herself and lay on her back for an hour while she concentrated her will on the change that which she wanted to effect. She wanted Jay to be one hundred percent dedicated and loyal to her. She wanted him to be hers, with no means of escape for him.

It was an easy process for her, charming gullible farangs. It was certainly easy for her to drug him the previous night, and erase his memory with the drugs she gave him along with the sedative. She wanted him in the dark about every thing she had done, and every thing that she intended to do.

She stood up after a long while and began to throw some food together in the kitchen. She chopped chilies, garlic, green onions, scallions, cilantro and sweet peppers. She sautéed this medley of vegetables with chopped pork and fresh basil. She added oyster sauce, soy sauce and chili paste, and tasted it with her finger.

While using the cleaver to chop vegetables, she also cut free a pinch-worth of her own pubic hair, which she added to the meal with white pepper, dried chili and fish sauce, all into the fragrant Thai dish. She tasted it, added a pinch of MSG, and then spit in it. It was now complete. She saw the light on the rice cooker go from cook to warm and she began to prepare the table.

"Smells wonderful!" Jay said, walking into the kitchen still naked and rubbing his temples with his hands. "Go put some clothes on and gin khao!" she gave him the command to eat. Jay obeyed without hesitation. He lived for her now.

Jay dressed and returned to the kitchen and sat down. Lamai smiled at him from across the table. Small wrinkles shown in the creases of her eyes but Jay saw only youth and beauty. "Gin khao." She told him to eat again, and pushed the food in his direction, serving large spoonfuls of the saucy blend over a plate of rice. Jay began to dig in.

"Delicious!" he exclaimed, unaware of the dark magic he was ingesting. He was unaware of the symbol of himself, tucked into his lover's pussy. He was also unaware that someone in a public position, who he recently had met, had recently ordered a hit on him.

Of course he was unaware of the plan Lamai had in mind for him. "Eat up, love," she invited, and he obeyed her command, as he was now obliged to do. Her pussy owned him. She felt the bulge of the figurine resting inside herself. She knew, his body, would do anything she asked, because of her pussy.

¤

Money woke up groggily, with Apple gently but firmly kneading the muscles in his neck. She put her hands in the praying position and gave seven chops to his back with her clasped hands. Each connection of her waiing hands made a hollow tone as she smacked his back, giving the queue that the massage was finished.

"Wow!" Money groaned, "That massage put me right to sleep." He felt tired but very relaxed. Before he awoke, Apple covered his body with salves that invigorated his skin and soothed his muscles. "I feel fantastic!"

Apple smiled and asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" with one eyebrow raised. "Well, dear," his eyes looked in the direction of his crotch. "Could you help me with something special?"

"Would another thousand Baht be a good tip for me?" She hesitatingly asked.

"Would five hundred Baht be a good enough tip?" he proposed.

"It would, but it wouldn't involve any kissing, if you know what I mean." she replied.

"Take care of me sweetheart, and we'll see how much of a tip you are worth." Money offered. She smiled, deviously, stalled for a few moments, and then walked slowly over to him. She felt his crotch and it began to swell. "OK, darling, let's see what this is worth to you."

Apple unloosened his waist ties and let his massage pants open. Apple, slightly repulsed but not showing it, took matters into her own hands. She considered herself to be above most of the other massage and sex workers, but protested that she had to make a living too, didn't she?

CHAPTER 6 BODILY INJURY

Jay didn't go to work on the following Monday. He called in sick. "A sore throat," he said. He didn't go home either. He stayed another day with Lamai, her pussy and her suggestions. Fucking, eating and talking. Jay learned more about her than she ever planned on sharing. He learned that she was an entrepreneur of sorts. She sold Booze, cigarettes and drugs to the bars, as well as provided them with working girls.

Lamai was a freelance operator. She didn't like competition, and she knew how to deal with it. Eliminate it. This harsher side of her should have raised flags in Jay's sometimes conservative mind, but it didn't. All he could see right now was hair, eyes and skin. It was pure infatuation and obsession.

Lamai used her shrine daily to strengthen her hold on Jay. She used the figurine of Jay that was painted in her own fluids, and placed it on her altar near a statue of Kali, the dark mother. Jay was intrigued with her shrine, but believed it was similar to the many other Buddhist shrines he had seen in Thailand since he had been there. He had no idea that something like voodoo was being implemented on himself. Lamai would save some hair from her brush, a fingernail clipping, saliva, blood and her own inner moisture, and add it like spices to a four star meal. Her hair and her secretions went in Jay's food daily, and he ate it with a passion similar to his sexual desire.

Besides being a practitioner of the dark arts, a bootlegger, a human trafficker and a murderer, Lamai was a damn good cook. She could cook Thai and Isaan food, as well as farang meals. She knew how to entice farangs in many ways. She was flavorfully creative and cunning, as well as stunning.

In the week following his orientation to Lamai's inner thighs, Jay did go to work for three days, but never bothered to go back to his home afterward. He couldn't wait to see her again. He was distracted all day at school and his students, as well as the other teachers, began to sense his absence of mental presence.

When he arrived at Lamai's house on Friday after work, at 4:20 P.M., she was waiting at the door for him, wearing a long black leather jacket. He noticed her shapely sexy calves and bare feet first, and then she slowly opened up the jacket, revealing her naked body wrapped in leather. He slid his arms around her back, kissing her deeply, allowing the jacket to fall to the floor, while shutting the door with his foot. They made love right there on the floor, her riding him until they came together. Then she slapped his ass and told him to go take a shower.

While Jay was in the shower, Lamai put the finishing touches on the dinner she was creating for them. She added a few chilies to the fish soup she was simmering. She stirred the freshly steamed sticky rice with a wooden spoon to let the air cool it down a bit. She smashed garlic, cilantro and chilies into a paste that she mixed with fish sauce and lime. She spread cucumber slices, green onions, cabbage and lettuce leaves, as well as a variety of Thai greens, all onto a platter with artistic symmetry and contrast. She fried some chopped beef and onions in a very hot wok, making Lapp, a traditional Thai food. And to this variety of flavorful delights, she sprinkled a mixture of solid and fluid ingredients from her own body, destined to enter Jay's body, to become one with his tissues, to embed her being in his, giving her power to influence his heart, mind and physical being.

Jay, would willingly, invite this into himself. He could not even feel these changes going on. He was sure he was in love. He was sure that he would do anything for this beauty. With a pre-warning coming from all of the wisdom that other foreigners and ex-pats shared with him about the way Thai women could prey on men, he was certain that this girl was different. She would never do anything to hurt me.

Jay arrived at the table, fresh from the shower, smelling clean and fresh. "This fucking smells delicious!" he exclaimed, smiling at his love and smelling her culinary delights.

"It's all for you tee-ruk," she referred to him as her darling in Thai. "I hope you like it."

"Oh my god! Like it? I freakin Love it! I can't believe how good of a cook you are!"

He began the feasting, dipping rolled balls of sticky rice into the nam prik chili sauce. He shoveled spoonfuls of laap into his face and alternated with bites of fresh greens. The fish soup was splendid. Never had he tasted anything like this in his own country. It was mesmerizing to the palette, and addictive to the soul.

After a few rounds of savory experience, he was overcome by his obsession with her. He leaned over the table and grabbed her head with his hands, pulling her face to his, and he kissed her with force and passion. Their tongues glided over each others mouths like two serpents. They tasted the salty fish and the spicy chilies on each others tongues. This kiss had all the flavors of the meal and was delicious to both of them, to her because she liked the food, to him because he was completely enamored with her.

She crawled up onto the table carelessly. Plates hit the floor. Soup spilled and ran across the hardwood table and dripped down onto the tile floor. Knees and hands were placed into plates of greens and meat without notice and the basket sticky rice toppled over. They fucked again, right on the table, on top of the food, making a mess, making a lot of noise, making love.

Later after cleaning up the kitchen, Jay drank a couple of beers while Lamai found some music videos to watch. He didn't like her taste in what he thought was cheesy pop music, but his eclectic flavor of music had no niche in Thailand. He didn't even mind her singing, which was pretty bad in his opinion. He just smiled and watched her do her thing, and he was happy.

"Jay, I think that this relationship is............" she said as Jay wondered what was coming next. He had a moment of panic, and thought that maybe he had gotten too close, too fast. Is she about to distance us? How can I live without her? I can't! I need her. ".......ready for the next step."

"Really?" Jay said feeling relieved.

"I think that we need to....... live together. There's no reason for you to keep your house. You should pack up your things and move in here. You can help me with keeping up the house and we can both save some money. What do you think?" Jay's insecure panic was gone already.

"I fucking love you Lamai!" he looked serious as hell. He melted.

She smiled. This is so fucking easy!

That night they drank a bottle of vodka together. It was real, not the counterfeit shit she peddled. She sucked him off like he had never felt her do before. She licked him in places he had never been licked before. She was going to ensure that this deal was sealed. She rode him while he leaned back in a chair. She bent over for him on a table. She told him to grab her hair and pull it and to smack her ass. They broke the table fucking on it and then moved to the floor.

They came several times together that night. At one point he heard her moaning, "Thank you Buddha!" and then he heard the words he was longing to hear, "I love you Jay!"

This was the epic marathon session of all times for Jay. They were drunk off their asses and went fucking crazy on each other. They made love for hours, coming more times than they could remember, always coming together like perfectly timed musicians. Jay was sure that he had found his soul mate. This is what making love really is! This is where I belong! When I am in her, I am home!

Sleep came after the last orgasm that helped them both to collapse. Drunken dreams teased them while they slept on the floor, wet with spilled drinks and spilled semen. There was no chance for Jay now. He never had a night like that before in his life.

The next day, he went to his house and packed all of his belongings into bags and suitcases. The next day, Lamai didn't remember how the table got broken, or why her clothes were scattered everywhere on the floor, and she didn't remember the loving things she said to Jay. She had forgotten the sex-capades of the previous night, the same as she forgot to give Jay memory loss drugs. This disheartened Jay a bit, a lot actually. Not being able to reminisce with her over the wild night left him lonely in this exquisite memory. He was surprised he could remember anything. They did drink a lot.

Did she mean the things she said? Why couldn't she remember the best sex that we ever had? I will remember that night the rest of my life. That was the best I ever had. Did the things she said when she was really drunk reflect her true feelings? It didn't matter. He was moving in. He was going to be with her everyday.

As Jay was busy packing up his belongings, Lamai was making her rounds at the bars around town. She provided whiskey, tequila, brandy, bourbon, cognac, vodka, gin and all other distilled products at a very low price, because it was all copied, down to the printed government tax stamp on the bottle neck.

Lamai had a special niche in ripping off farang bar owners, and she was regularly proficient at taking advantage of Gunter, who was equally as skilled at exploiting his own bar girls, like Chompoo, who was just as able to relieve the drunken tourist of his wealth. This food chain had no morality.

People like Jay, Tone and Money were a little bit wise to the bar girl's game, but they were still susceptible to being manipulated by the maneuvering of this devious dance. The 'take whatever you can get' game the bargirls played, pretty much ended with the drunken tourist, who was also trying to get whatever he could get. Perhaps this was a win, win situation.

Lamai moved counterfeit booze, cigarettes and accessories like sunglasses, hand bags and perfumes. The bars all new what they were purchasing, and the police took their hush money to protected every one involved. Everyone had their own side deals going on. That was an arena that left room for debate and dispute.

The real money makers here were the police bosses, who choreographed every step of this clandestine commerce. The side deals included everything from pedophilia to human slavery. Most of the time, it meant fat pockets for everyone involved, except for the victims, but a policeman couldn't be expected to live on his own meager salary, so he did what ever he could do to feed his family. The bosses took advantage of the boys in blue this way, by keeping salaries so low that they required enrichment.

Lamai knew one police boss very well, a man named Ratree, who she paid her cut to directly. This man took care of protecting her, and on down the chain of command, the local officers knew to leave her alone.

In a sense, Ratree owned her, as independent as she thought she was. This was a profitable business for her, but she wanted more. And she was devious about getting it. She was waiting for the right moment when she could bypass him and fuck someone higher up on the chain than him. She might have to pay a lot to get Ratree out of the picture, but she knew a lot of people in both low and high places. Having a tight little frame, cute smile, dimples, a boob job, long sexy hair, fine legs and a great ass was good for the things that being clever didn't work with. Speaking English, Thai, Khmer, Isaan, Laos, Russian and Vietnamese helped also, not to mention employing the black magic she practiced. She had invisible tattoos of oil on her lips and tongue that she believed crafted her words and kisses in ways that made her irresistible and undeniable.

Lamai was the cute, sexy liaison who brokered deals and acted as a mule for the rip-off purchases. She would also supply fresh working girls, mostly from the Isaan area of Thailand, to the bars that had that kind of service to offer, which was almost every bar in Pattaya. Her side deals were far reaching and very clever. She had a long list of farangs on a string. This was her specialty, and she could access them for whatever reason she wanted to. The men she kept tethered were mostly a source of money and blood to her. She rarely had someone like Jay who turned out to be a little more.

Cocaine, marijuana, amphetamine, heroin, ecstasy and Viagra were all part of her merchandising list. She acted individually, and the bar owners new and trusted her. Many of her strung along farangs knew that they could acquire those special party favors from her. She had to be careful when she cut out the bar owner from making a buck in this string of profiteering. She demanded complete secrecy from every dupe she manipulated, with promises of sex, or just about anything.

A long time ago, Lamai became very aware of the constant stream of money coming in with farang tourists. She used to tap into this money pipeline, mostly by being a freelance prostitute. Now, she was also able to tap into the pipeline of fresh farang blood, in a more discernible demographic. After dealing with a few creeps who tried to beat the fuck out of her, she became more selective about her feeding.

One thing she was recently wise to was the constant flow of farang teachers coming to Thailand to teach English. She could research all of the applicants online, and follow which schools they made contacts with. With the help of a few friends, she was also able to figure the net worth of these farangs. A lot of teachers were poor, Cheap Charlies, looking to take advantage of a teacher niche because they couldn't make things work in their own country, but some individuals were here to "make a difference", "to help the world", "to accept a new challenge". And these individuals who were financially independent were perfect candidates for her charms, her sexual appetite, her money hunger, and of course, her thirst for blood. For what ever reason the men flocked here, she found a way to seduce them into doing what she wanted. She was a marksman and a sniper shooting farang fish in a barrel.

Lamai was in her sixties in age, but looked about thirty. It was because she was a Pee Doot Lewat. This was the word used by Thai people to describe someone who carried the bloodline that kept them youthful, strong and regenerative. It was a bloodline that required the carriers to drink the blood of other living things.

She had the special Siam blood, that the rest of the population tolerated in the same way that they tolerated lady-boys. There was nothing socially wrong with it in this accepting society. There was no sin in being what you were. It was a condition that existed, that was all.

Pee Doot Lewat, were not shunned or outcast, and were even celebrated in some circles. Lamai could live youthfully for a very long time because she could ingest another person's life force, and have it strengthen her own.

She had become skilled in adapting this ancient trait to modern day Thailand society. She used all of her wiles and the drugs available to her, to stealthily steal this life force from others, especially farangs, and never rock the boat or become discovered.

Pee Doot Lewat could be translated into, ghost who sucks blood. It was a special kind of being within this world, among the various organic phenomena that live in undiscovered niches. This species was not a glamorized silver screen celebrity, it was an amazing expression of nature's diversity.

As Lamai was talking to Gunter, the Belgian proprietor of the Pu Ying Palace, she saw a familiar face hastily walking down the street. It was Mr. Sekott, who was hastily peering into bars and restaurants, trying to locate a person that he desperately wanted to get in touch with again. He was looking for this someone who might understand his mission, someone who could help him complete the task he was obsessed with. This someone was Mr. Jay Michaels.

Seeing a glimpse of Mr. Sekott now caused Lamai to have a flashback. She could see Sekott's face above her as he was awkwardly thrusting into her while having uneventful sex. She recalled him always being sweaty and smelling bad. She tried to help him with his hygiene for her own sake. She had to remind him that hygiene was a good idea. Sekott was often so involved in his cerebral activities that his bodily functions became unimportant to him.

She recalled his nerdy way of speaking and the cigarette resin stains on his fingers and teeth. She recalled the large amounts of money that he had in many investments and accounts. She recalled their time together and his hasty departure, when he attempted to return to his rural village in Laos. She remembered how easy it was to convince the people there that Sekott was going to harm them.

From their first encounter in Chiang Mai, to the time he eluded her in Mukdahan, she saw her interlude with him flash by in a recollection of sour memories. The thought of him pissed her off because she didn't succeed in maintaining total control of him. That was not her style.

She saw him about a week ago, talking to a random man, the man she was now feeding her pubic hair to and fucking every night. The real reason she was with Jay was because he was a link to the past farang, Mr. Sekott, who she had a debt of vengeance to settle with. Now, she had caught back up to him, and she could kill him in whatever fashion pleased her mood, but first, she wanted to know why he was trying to contact her new prisoner, Jay. Why did he talk to Jay at the bar that night? What was he after? What is his goal? What is he up to? She had to know. She had decided that night to take the steps necessary to complete this unfinished chapter.

That same night that she was pursuing Mr. Sekott, she happened to see him talking to someone at Gunter's bar. Were it not for witnessing that brief encounter, she would probably not had ever noticed Jay. Mr. Sekott was to thank for Jay's recent good luck with having a new sex partner. Lamai had decided that night that Jay was the key to securing her target. Her eyes had mesmerized Jay, and her charms and her dark magic reeled him in. She did this not because Jay was some prize to her, but rather because he would be the key to subduing the sometimes elusive, always strange, Mr. Sekott.

¤

Mr. Sekott had not heard back from Jay after slipping him a warning note several nights ago. He was anxious to talk to him. Mr. Sekott spent a great deal of time and money researching Jay. After discovering that Jay was the brother of a renowned genetic researcher in Texas, and that Jay was living in Thailand, Mr. Sekott considered Jay his best bet in achieving his goal of solving the genetic riddle that plagued his son.

He researched Jay online, looking at his resumes, his work history and reading the esoteric philosophical short stories that Jay had blogged online. Jay seemed like he would be open minded enough to understand what Sekott had discovered about the people here. If Jay could accept what Sekott was ready to reveal to him, then with the help of Daniel, Jay's brother, Sekott could likely complete the biological agent that he was trying to create. He would be able to cure his son, his estranged wife, himself, and anyone else with the sickness carried by the Pee Doot Lewat.

¤

As the sun kissed the coastal mountains and began to hide for the night, the golden skies gave the streets the signal to start lighting up and pulling in the farangs, waiting to be drained of their money. Jay, Tone and Money, sat at Gunter's bar, knocking back Leo beers and slamming Thai rum with red bull in it.

Lamai was still working with her clientele and Jay had a chance to sit with his friends and take some shit from them.

"You pussy-whipped mother fucker!" Tone joked. "We ain't seen you for a week since you crawled into that twat cave."

"Come on man!" Jay protested. "She's fucking sweet! And things are fucking sweet for me dude. I found someone who isn't after me just for my money and the sex is awesome!"

"You are in a country crawling with beautiful girls and hundreds of them get off the bus everyday! So you are going to move in with just one and miss out on all the rest?" Money added.

"What can I say, I love this one!"

"Oh My God!" Tone exclaimed. "You just used the L word in the land of P."

"I'll still see you guys, I might just happen be with Lamai when I do." Jay insisted, "Look man, be happy for me. This could be the one! She's awesome, and real. She's not like the others. She never asked me for a dime!"

"You better have one more shot mother fucker, and look at the booty shaking all around you." Tone said as the three guys surveyed the bar, the short, short shorts, the long, long legs, the asses sliding up and down brass poles and the flashing lights making their skin glow.

Out of the crowd a nerdy blonde haired man came running up to the table that the three amigos were sitting at. "Uh, Uh, can I talk to you?" Sekott asked enthusiastically of Jay.

"I guess man, do I know you?" asked Jay.

"I passed you a slip of paper with a message the other night, did you learn what it meant?" Sekott asked.

"I remember you now. That note was written in a language I don't understand, and it got some weird reactions from the police!" Jay commented.

"Oh, Oh whatever you do, don't tell the police, they are in on it."

"What are you talking about?" Jay questioned. "What police? In on what?"

"Uh, Uh, I don't have much time. Your brother, the geneticist, he can help. The note...in Laos language... it said.. beware of anyone who is.... the Pee Doot Lewat...the local bloodsuckers!. I need your help. Please! Call me at this number, or email me at this address. It's very important! I can pay lots of money!"

Sekott slipped Jay another mysterious note and ran off as abruptly as he appeared and disappeared the first time. Sekott didn't want anyone to know that he was here in Pattaya, and he didn't want to be seen by any of Lamai's network. He for sure didn't want her to catch up with him again.

"What the, who the, fuck the, what the fuck was that?" Tone said looking perplexed. "That was one strange dude!"

"I have no idea," said Jay. "But this is the second time he's popped up. How does he know about my brother back in the states?" He hadn't talked to or thought about his brother in a long time. They weren't that close.

"This is going to be a strange night!" Money added.

"T.I.T. Baby!" Tone repeated the mantra.

"Hello boys!" Lamai smiled and greeted the already drunken trio. "Did I miss anything?"

"Hey baby!" Jay lit up as he put his arm around Lamai and guided her ass into a chair close to him. "Just some strange fellow giving cryptic notes and acting very strange."

"Oh, what kind of notes?" she asked, trying to act like a stupid innocent girl.

"A week ago, someone gave me a slip of paper with, I guess, Laos writing on it. And today he gave me a phone number and seemed adamant about me helping him. I forgot all about him at the time, but after seeing him tonight, his face started to jog my memory."

"Pattaya's full of all kinds of creepy fetish seekers. How about some drinks!" She said.

"Line em up mother fucker!" Tone grinned. "And who is this sweet little mama?"

"Tone, meet Lamai." Jay introduced her, "Lamai, Tone."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma'am." Tone said bowing forward. Thinking that he would put his dick in this one if he had a chance.

"And this is Money." Jay said gesturing to his other friend.

"Hey wassup?" Money said in a nonchalant kind of way, thinking she was nothing special, just another bargirl.

"Hello, boys!" Lamai flashed them both a big smile, considering which one might be fun for sex sometime and which one might be worth draining, with no consideration of loyalty or faithfulness to Jay. "Nice to meet you!"

The three companions, plus Lamai, drank their way into the A.M. Hours. For being such a tiny little thing, Lamai could keep up with the rest of them at the drinking table. By midnight, they were all fucked up, to say the least.

"I am going to to do things to you like you never felt before!" Lamai whispered into Jay's ear.

"All right, fuckers. I'm out!" Jay stood up, staggered and made a motion to leave.

Lamai tucked an empty beer bottle into her purse and sprinkled a vial of powder in the glass of rum Jay had sipping at the table, unseen by anyone there.

"Drink up you lightweights!" Lamai said as she raised her glass and proposed a toast. "Good for health!"

"Good for health!" Everyone chimed in and swallowed what was left of their drinks.

"See you futher muckers tomollow" Jay said as he grabbed his lady by the waist and began to make moves towards the street.

Tone and Money looked at each other laughing. "More bitches for us!" Tone said as they looked out into the dancing, snaking, flesh, on the dance floor and up on the stages.

Lamai and Jay walked to the curb where his motor bike was parked. She had come to the bar by taxi but was not going back home in one. She jingled the keys and made a motion to take the driver's position on the bike, knowing Jay would deny her the opportunity because of his drunken ego.

"Gimme da keys, I drive!" said Jay.

"Why yes, Sir Pumpsalot!" Joked Lamai, who reached into Jay's pocket, produced his keys and handed them to him. She laughed to herself when she discovered a slip of paper which she pretended not to notice.

"Let's go back to the love nest, little bird." Jay said as he climbed on the motorbike and started it. Lamai climbed on, wrapped her arms around Jay tightly and they took of into the darkness, dotted with the red tail lights from other late night drivers. Lamai put on head phones and began listening to Smokey Robinson, Cruisin Together. She sang along with it badly for a minute and then put the ear buds into Jay's ears. He loved that song and felt on top of the world. She took the music back to herself after teasing Jay with the song.

As Jay was weaving down the road, smiling, laughing, and straining to see, Lamai pulled the empty beer bottle from her purse. She held it behind her back, where Jay couldn't see it. She clenched the bottle firmly by the neck, and then tensed her legs and sured her balance, ready to jump off the bike. She raised her hand to begin a downward swing of the bottle onto Jay's head, and then, she stopped.

She instead jammed the bottle in the spokes of the motorcycles back wheel with one quick unseen motion. The rotation ripped the bottle out of her hand and took it for a half of a revolution ride, before catching steel frame, bending spokes and shattering. She used the foot pegs as a launching platform and jumped free of the now teetering bike, simultaneously pushing against Jay's back.

Jay's reaction time, being decreased by three hundred percent, could not correct for the lurch of the back tire and the shove from Lamai. The bike leaned way to the left and was soon after it was skidding down the road with Jay's leg pinned underneath it. Lamai jumped clear and was able to land lightly, tuck and roll in a Judo style motion. She scraped her knuckles, elbows and knees with road rash, but did not sustain any bad injuries.

Jay lay under a smashed motorbike, bleeding and unconscious. Lamai ran over to him and checked for a pulse and breathing. He had both. Good! She smiled and called the hospital to send an ambulance. She used her finger to collect some blood from the wound on her elbow. She collected a several drops and rubbed them into a gash on Jay's arm. She would give him a little healing blood of her own, to ensure he stayed alive.

She had been counting on his state of inebriation to relax his body enough to lessen the severity of his injury. She wanted him injured but not dead. She knew her blood would react with his to create a regenerative reaction. She sniff kissed him on the top of his shoulder and on his neck, draining a little bit of his memory and his life force.

She surveyed his trauma. The leg pinned under the bike took the worst of the damage. She looked inside his helmet to see his face. His eyes were closed. His face was bleeding from a small cut on his chin but his head looked safe. His arms were twisted in an unnatural position, possibly broken. She took his cell phone out of his pocket and threw it over the road embankment into the darkness. She also pocketed a slip of paper with a phone number and an email scribbled on it. She didn't need anyone else finding this connection and interfering with her plans. Jay was going to need rehabilitation, he was going to need someone to take care of him. This is exactly the position that she wanted him to be in. He would be even more dependent on her now, and even easier to feed on.

Lamai wanted to keep Jay completely to herself and away from any possible contact with Mr. Sekott from now. She decided that a good injury would serve to make this happen. She could have had Jay injured in a variety of ways that she had been pondering, like a bar fight, a mugging or a dog attack, but she did it this way because it amused her. She did whatever she wanted to at any moment, and this event was rather fun. Being a Pee Doot Lewat did not make her immune to alcohol, and she was drunk and ornery tonight.

The ambulance arrived after several other vehicles stopped to survey the scene and take some home video footage. The E.M.T. responders went to work right away, checking Jay's vital signs and assessing spinal injury. They removed his helmet, got him onto a stretcher and began an I.V. Drip. Within moments they were loading him into the ambulance.

"I'm not sure what happened." Lamai said, looking confused and bewildered as two technicians tended to her. They applied dressings to her wounds and directed her to ride with Jay in the back of the ambulance to the emergency room. "Is he going to be OK?"

"Please, sit down in the back," they directed her to a bench seat. "We will get him to a surgeon and he will be able to tell you more."

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Lamai put her head in her hands and wept, real tears, looking as distraught as she could. "I told him to be careful. I told him not to drink so much!"

She looked up through her forced tears and saw Jay on the stretcher, his neck fully supported and his head strapped down tightly. She didn't want him to die. She had plans for him, for herself. If he does die, there will be others, and whatever Sekott told him will never be spoken of again.

Jay came to in a hospital bed, bandaged and braced, with tubes feeding medicine and nutrients to him through the veins in his arms. "Uuhhhh!" he coughed a raspy sound, "Whaa... happpen?" Lamai was at his side.

"We were in an accident, Love" She said smiling down at him.

"You....OK?" he strained, trying to smile.

"Yes love, I am OK. But you have managed to break an arm and badly tear up your leg. You are going to be OK the doctor said."

"We...were...driving?" he asked, as he tried to remember.

"You lost control of the bike. The bike went over and I rolled to the side but your leg was dragged under it for a while."

Jay tried to move the different muscles in his body. He grimaced and felt nausea. He had pain everywhere it seemed, but especially in his left leg.

"I am here for you, baby. I will take care of you, whatever you need."

He looked at her through blood shot eyes. "Love....you."

"I love you too, Tee-Ruk."

During Jay's stay in the hospital he was hooked to a morphine drip hose. He would press a button when he was in pain, and the dispenser would introduce the drug to his I.V. tube. Lamai enjoyed this little treat for herself also.

She would wait until Jay was asleep with the pain medication, and then she would check the dressings on his leg wound. She could easily irritate a small area of the wound to start it bleeding again. She would wrap her lips around this oozing crack and drink as much of the drug-laden blood that she could swallow. If a nurse walked by, she always appeared to be tenderly kissing her lover's unconscious body. She was actually getting a little high every time, and relaxing in this state of mellowness. Nourishment with a buzz, not a bad treat!

Lamai made arrangements with Jay's school, for the fact that he would not be returning. She went there to collect his things and his remaining pay, and left them with the knowledge that they would not see him again. She gave them a contact number that was an out of service number.

After two weeks in the hospital, Jay was discharged and Lamai was there to pick him up. Lamai worked hard to keep Jay's location a secret. She made all the arrangements with the visiting nurses to visit her house. She equipped her bottom floor with a special bed, similar to an adjustable hospital bed. She had the money to do this because she had several other farangs that were more than anxious to send her money. All she had to do was talk sweetly to them occasionally on the phone, and fuck them for a week out every year when they were on vacation, away from their wives.

Of course, they all believed that they were the only one in Lamai's life, and that she was chastely waiting for them to return, because, let's face it, farangs are stupid, and a little black magic seals the deal. This was the clever art of deception masked in glamour.

Jay was wheeled into her house by a hospital worker. Jay's left arm was in a cast with a sling and his left leg was covered with bandages. He was lucky, being drunk did decrease the severity of his injuries. The way his leg skid down the road with the bike on top of it, created a meter long strawberry wound from his ankle to his hip. He could walk a little now, but moving his leg caused the road rash to bend and crack, so he tried to bend only his right leg and keep the left straight.

"Thank you so much, Love. I don't know how I could do this on my own." He said with a very humble smile.

"Mai Bpen rai'" she told him too never mind, "I'm going to take care of you...ting tong!"

"Hey!" he protested, knowing that ting tong was the equivalent of England's Mr. Bean.

"It's OK dumb ass," she smiled back. "I don't really think you are a dumb ass, dumb ass!"

"Well I feel like a dumb ass for wrecking my bike and, shit! I could have seriously hurt you! I am so glad you are OK. I'm sorry!" he said with yearning eyes.

"It's a good thing that I'm OK. Who else is going to take care of your dumb ass?"

Jay was moved from a wheel chair to a reclining chair in Lamai's, modified bottom floor. With a little wincing, he got as comfortable as he could and leaned back. "I still can't figure out how the accident happened. We were drinking in the palace. I remember Tone and Money being there. I remember doing shots, and then, waking up in the hospital. I must just be a dumb ass alcoholic." Jay remorsed. "Where have those guys been? Have you seen them?"

"I left your contact info with the school," she said "They will contact you when they crawl out of their bottles."

"I guess no one ever recovered my phone?" he asked.

"That's right love. It must have got lost the night of the accident. Don't worry. I already told you that I took care of everything, the school, the insurance, your medical bills and your future medical treatment. All you have to do is heal now." She reassured him.

"I am so grateful to you Tee-ruk, my darling."

"I love you too, ting tong!" she joked, playfully calling him a dummy, but thinking to herself, what a simple sack of blood he is!

¤

"What the fuck ever happened to Jay?" Tone asked Money as he swilled the beer in his bottle. "Ever since he met that Lamai bitch, he's become invisible!"

"Yeah, I know. A pussy-whipped muther fucker for sure. I guess it happens sooner or later. You stop believing the truth and relax in the safety of your own delusions. Maybe, he's in.....Love." Money waxed.

"Don't talk to me about Love mother fucker! The only love here is the love of money. I guess that's what love is. I will have to remember that, oh yeah, I do already. That's why I treat 'em like the spooge receptacles that they are." Tony pronounced. "Fuckin Jay. He's probably got his head so far up her pussy that he can't even see what an asshole she really is!"

CHAPTER 7 ISAAN

Jay spent his first week out of the hospital getting used to being able to move his body around again. He still had a fair amount of pain and was told that he was going to be unable to work for at least a month. He spent his time reading novels that Lamai had collected, and entertaining himself with all things internet; games, surfing, emails, social networking and of course, the real reason the internet exists, porn.

Lamai was gone during the afternoon and evenings, not selling napkins, toothpicks and coasters like she told Jay, but selling counterfeit commodities and contraband. For instance, all the shops nearby would sell a bottle of pineapple brandy for about five hundred Baht. The liquid Lamai was selling was a copy product, made with inferior ingredients, and could be purchased for about one hundred baht a bottle, from a distributor who represented the bootleggers.

Lamai could sell this bottle of copy spirits for three to four hundred baht. The bar was getting a discount from the cost of a real bottle, but would sell it at inflated bar prices and double their money. Sometimes they would even triple their money, because the bar tenders knew who was drunk enough to not notice watered down drinks, and if a drink was left on a table or at the bar, it didn't get thrown out, it got mixed into some unknowing drunk persons next purchase. Lamai paid about a hundred baht per bottle to the police, who allowed her to do her business and did not bother the illegal producers. This was not uncommon, it was just T.I.T.

Lamai was aware of Mr. Sekott's presence in the Pattaya. She was often a step right behind him. She knew he sat at different coffee shops, where he worked from his computer and drank black coffee. She knew he changed coffee shops every day. She knew he ate 7-11 toasted sandwiches and drank Thai energy drinks. She knew he had visited and talked to Jay twice at the bar strip, but she didn't know why he would want to talk to Jay. She needed to take care of Mr. Sekott once and for all. She needed to know what he knew, what his connection to Jay was, and then, it would be good bye Mr. Sekott.

She could hire a hit man from the Russian Mafia, but they were greedy and obnoxiously loud. It was never a good thing, but not an uncommon thing, for a farang to turn up dead in the city. The rate of farang suicides in Pattaya was fifty times the amount in America, Australia and England. This accounted for most of the deaths of farangs in the area, broken hearts and broken wallets.

Many a farang put his heart, his trust, and especially, his finances into a relationship with a beautiful young Thai girl who was in love with him and only him, only to find out he was number three or four in a line of financially ranked boyfriends. Many a farang never used the round trip part of their plane ticket. Murder was fairly easy to be made to look like a suicide. The amount of forensics being used in these death investigations, was often nil. The policemen would say, "Yes, he's dead. Suicide." End of investigation.

Lamai didn't want to add to the statistic this time. She would arrange things so that she could deal with Mr. Sekott far away from any publicity. She could hire someone from Laos to slip across the river border, kill him, drain all of his blood and make him disappear into the swamps of a rice field, to be eaten by the scavenging crabs and insects.

She could arrange this for the price of a bottle of whiskey, and the Laos man would be back in his country getting drunk for weeks before anyone ever noticed that the victim was missing. She didn't want this rich man to bring investigators to her prime real estate area, so would find a way to bring Sekott to the country, up in the Isaan rice fields, in the small village that her family was from. It would be nice to see her family again anyhow, to smell the cook fires, to taste rural specialties, and to murder someone with an illusive secret. It was time to move her plan along.

Lamai could easily murder Sekott herself, but she had reasons for employing someone else to do it. Number one, she would have no direct link to the murder. Number two, she wouldn't absorb any of the residual side effects that the ectoplasm of a fresh kill left behind. Number three, she wouldn't have to ruin any of her clothes.

Lamai introduced an idea to Jay one evening, after he had about a week of healing. She was suggesting that they move to a small country house in a small village, somewhere in the Northeastern part of the country.

They would be in the village of her family and they could stay in a house that she was building there. This was the house that farang built, or actually many a farang contributed funds towards it, and most of the labor was from inexpensive Local workers.

"Isaan would be the perfect place for you to rest and recover, and enjoy a peaceful time. It is far away from the city and the crazy farang tourists. It is more real and the people are friendlier. The traditional Isaan food is delicious. I know you will love it, so, what do you say?" Lamai was shining as she described this to Jay like a sexy car saleswoman about to make a mint off of a Porsche sale.

"Well, I did grow up in the country." Jay pondered. "I have always liked the quiet mornings, the back roads and the neighborly attitudes. I guess it would be a nice change."

"And when you are ready to work again, there are plenty of schools that are looking for a farang teacher like you to teach there. Most teachers want to stay around the Bangkok area, where the pay is better and the nightlife is more, so village schools have a harder time attracting foreign teachers. That puts you in high demand, and you can have your pick." Lamai added.

"I guess I'm ready for a change," Jay said. "Let's do this! I think it's a good idea. Are you sure that you want to be my nurse, my lover and my landlady?"

"I am committed to you, tee-ruk," Lamai said, thinking, follow me into my lair, said the spider to the fly. "You are my boyfriend and I need you in my life." Farangs are stupid and will believe anything, especially if they want to believe it. Lamai knew this and was a skilled practitioner of manipulating farangs. All they needed for coercion is to see a pretty face and to hear that they are special. Jay believed that his love, Lamai, truly wanted to be with him, and she knew, he would follow her anywhere.

"I love you tee-ruk!"

"I love you too tee-ruk!"

¤

The air smelled different. The stench of sewage in open gutters was replaced with the smell of rice stalks warming in the dry sun and smoke from exotic wood-fires. This smell was delicious to the nostrils. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and the horizon was rice fields, flat, golden and pregnant with grain, as far as he could see in any direction.

The large two story bus flew down the highway, faster than every other vehicle on the road. Jay was glad he wasn't sitting in the front of the bus where he would have to watch the fast and furious giant hunk of steel passing every car, truck and tuk-tuk on this very straight two lane highway. He didn't have to observe the cars in the other lane driving off of the road to avoid being hit by the oncoming bus. Traffic right-of-way did not exist as a written law with a description explaining which driver had it, it was respected that the biggest chunk of steel on the road had all the rights of passage.

Instead of rows of restaurants and bars, Jay saw small wooden shacks, appearing like little shady oases in the sea of yellow grain. There were water buffalo and cows tied and staked in the fields that had already been cut. There were small two-wheeled plows being operated by barefoot farmers who steered them along. There were dots on the horizon which were people in the rice fields, bent over, cutting the rice by hand and sickle. There were over-packed truckloads of farmers, all wearing a lot of clothing to hide their skin from the sun. They were all heading for some field of rice, to toil all day, to do the work that feeds the world. There were trees spotting the edges of the rice paddies, eucalyptus, teak and other unique sylvan entities that Jay had never seen before. About every stretch of several kilometers, Jay would see a red roofed temple surrounded by tall walls.

The landscape was somewhat similar in this sea of rice fields. It had an ancient simplicity to it. All of the rice paddies were bordered with mounded berms of earth, created hundreds of years ago by farmers doing things basically the same way, by hand. Isaan was the rice growing bread basket of Thailand. This region was the land of the hard-working hunched-over farmers, of tradition and superstition, of culture and cuisine, of Buddhism and beautiful people. Jay was quietly soaking in all this as he and Lamai rode the bus to Ban Chomani, a small village not far from the Mekhong River and the country of Laos.

"Now you might want to learn to speak Isaan." Lamai instructed. "The people here speak a mixture of Thai and Laos, and every area has its own style of speaking. They will understand your Thai, but they will probably not be speaking it."

"I was surprised to know I was capable of learning a new language at all when I started to catch on to Thai, so I guess I can learn anything if I try," Jay tried to coach himself.

"Just wai to everyone older than you or any one that you're not sure of their age. Don't wai young people first, let them initiate the gesture, or they will see you as disrespectful." or as a stupid farang, Lamai stated.

"When will I meet your family?" Jay asked.

"Tonight we will get settled into the house, and I'm sure my family will want to wander over to see you, to meet you and, of course, eat together." Lamai proposed.

"I can't wait to eat Isaan food. You make it sound so delicious! And if it is anything like your chicken, I am going to love it." Jay salivated.

"Just remember, say, 'SAAEEP' when you are eating to let the cook know you appreciate the food and that you think it's delicious. Always take your shoes off before going into anyone's house. Don't tap your spoon on your plate. Don't show the bottom of your feet to any one. Don't kiss me in public. Don't ......."

"Whoa, don't kiss you? I want to go back, now!" Jay whined.

"I will teach you how to mix here. You will catch on. And you can kiss me, kiss my ass that is!"

Jay smiled and stared out the bus window. He could already tell he liked this area. It was rural. It was peaceful. It was real.

The sun set on the golden fields and the stars took their turn. Jay got off the bus with Lamai at corner store where the tuk-tuks gathered. Unlike Pattaya, people were staring at him as if he was the first farang they ever saw. The fact that he was still bandaged and wrapped in a cast made him more of a spectacle. Little kids stared and he heard them saying makseeda. At least they weren't saying farang, he thought. I could really use a break from that word.

Moments later he heard the word farang at least three more times and he realized that he wasn't that lucky. Isaan was after all a cultural mix of Laos and Thai culture and language.

A tuk-tuk driver motioned them to his three wheeled motorbike taxi with a covered sitting area big enough for four people. This was just enough space for Jay and Lamai and all of their bags. A loud, bouncy ride took them up the pothole laden streets to Lamai's house in the village of Ban Chomani.

Her house had composite roof tiles shaped to look like Spanish clay tiles. The house was made of wood and rested a top of large tree trunk poles rising out of the ground. A steep set of nine steps led up to the entrance. Nine was a number for good luck, but Jay didn't feel very lucky when he tried to ascend the stairs in pain. Lamai turned on the light and Jay looked at his new home.

Wood floors, wood walls and wooden furniture was the simple theme. It had a very rustic yet modern look to it. He guessed that Lamai had some input into the design, because it was much like her, a traditional Isaan person, with modern ideas.

It felt comfortable right away with all of its shades of red, yellow and brown. Lamai went to the fridge and retrieved a Leo beer which she handed to Jay. She opened another for herself. "You will need this to ease the pain." She said.

"My pain isn't too bad right now, Love." Jay replied.

"I mean the pain of meeting my family," she said, "they will be here soon. Just smile a lot and nod your head, you're good at that I noticed."

"OK, tee-ruk." Was she just dissing me? Jay hadn't noticed her ever being condescending before, but he thought she was now.

OK, so how do I explain this crippled farang to my sisters. I could lie and tell them that he is rich. They won't understand if they find out that he's not. For sure, I am not sharing him with any of them. They can get their own meals. Lamai devised a plan in her head as she readied herself for the family reunion.

Lamai's two older sisters and her mother showed up first, then her father and one of her brothers came along. They all wanted to have a look at the new farang. They had seen the men that she had brought home before and were curious to see what this one would look like. Their main questions for Lamai were; How much does he make? How much does he have? How much does he give you? How much will you get out of this one? How much will you share with your family? And why is he wrapped in bandages? Lamai decided to lead them all on for now and told them that he was rich and was a teacher as a hobby. She told them that he was wrapped in bandages because he couldn't drive a motorbike very well.

Jay drank beer and smiled and nodded a lot. He didn't understand much of anything being said, because he was hearing a dialect that was part Thai, part Laos, part Vietnamese and it had its own local flavor and accent. Lamai could easily talk about him with her family and have no chance of Jay understanding. Jay realized that he was good at smiling and nodding his head.

This being in the dark most of the time was uncomfortable for Jay, but part of living here meant not knowing what was going on or what was being said most of the time, so he resigned himself to enjoy the beer and the food. This he was good at. The drunker he got, the better the food tasted, and the better he could nod his head.

The family all sat on the floor on straw mats and large bamboo baskets of sticky rice were placed in the middle of everyone and opened. Everyone grabbed chunks of the sticky rice and rolled it into balls and dipped them into the plates of chili sauce, ground up salty fish, peeled bamboo pieces in a dark green sauce and bowls of soup with vegetables and meats in them.

Eating was a communal process here. No one grabbed a quick bite to eat at a fast food restaurant, there wasn't one for 100 kilometers. Everyone always ate together, and they ate often. This was Isaan style and anything else would seem very strange to them. This will become part of my new routine if I am going to stay here. I like the stick rice and the hot sauce, but the rotten fish sauce is amazingly strange.

He winced a little when he squatted down to sit on the grass mat, but he was able to complete this motion and he sat up a straight as he could with his damaged leg sticking straight out. Her family observed Jay's movements and wondered of what use a farang like this could be.

This farang can't help out at the farm planting rice.

He can't build a house with a body wrapped up like that.

I can't see any money bag bulging from his pocket, why doesn't he carry more money?

Jay kept drinking the Leo beers that Lamai would bring him and the men kept handing Jay shot's of clear rice whiskey they called lao khao. Jay drank himself into a sleepy state of intoxication. The booze, combined with the medication he was taking, and the powdered drugs that Lamai put in his drink, he had a powerful concoction of chemicals in him. He will sleep like a baby tonight and never remember a thing.

Lamai was hungry and she wanted to feed tonight. After the family wandered back to their houses for the evening, Lamai guided her drunken boyfriend to a raised bed that she had waiting for him. Most people here slept on mats on the floor, but Jay's injuries required a little more luxury. After all, he is a stupid weak farang, as they all are."Have a good dream tee-ruk," she said as she positioned him on the bed. She crawled in next to him snuggling up, pulling his good arm around her.

"I love you tee-ruk," Jay mumbled as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"I love you too," Lamai said, "My stupid buffalo!"

After about fifteen minutes, Lamai unspooled from this embrace and sat up. She opened the bandages on Jay's leg. She found a wound that looked suitable, extracted a small sharp pocket knife from her pocket, and made an incision right in the middle of the wound.

As the blood rose, bubbled and then began to drip, she wrapped her lips seductively around the bleeding slit, like a gentle kiss on a lover's forehead. She sighed and exhaled as she felt the warm blood on her tongue and then, the back of her throat. She shivered a little and moaned as she drank. It was as good as having intense sexual pleasure.

For Lamai, this feeding process was like sex. It was her fetish. It got her off. She felt her energy magnetized to her partner through her hands, hips and her lips. She was shaking from the blood entering her system and also getting very horny now. The moistness between her legs began to soak her panties.

She sucked harder on the wound and took great pleasure in the irony taste in her mouth. As the life fluid entered her system, she began to feel a resurgence of energy flow through her body. At the same time she felt a burning urge in her pussy. As she drank Jay's blood, she slipped her hand into her shorts and found her wet slot. She brushed her swollen nub with her fingers, slowly at first and then faster. It only took her a minute to get to the edge as she strummed herself furiously. She came while moaning and sucking blood down her throat, lost in this ecstatic ritual.

After cumming, she released her lips from Jay's bleeding wound. She held her finger over it to stop the blood flow. She held the fingers of her other hand on her pulsing, throbbing pussy. She moaned again, completely satiated. Jay was the perfect candidate to be a feeder for her now, in his complacent condition.

When she rose from the bed, she took another vial of powder from her bag and sprinkled a coagulant on Jay's wound to stop the bleeding. She rewrapped his leg gently and then walked outside, her legs trembling a little and feeling rubbery from the orgasm still.

She looked up at the stars from her porch. "Thank you Buddha!" she whispered.

Lamai was not an astute believer, but she felt something different, maybe special. Do I actually like this farang? In some way, she did. She felt close to him right now so she crawled back into bed with her unconscious lover. She spooned up against him and held him. She used her finger to gather some wetness from between her labia and she rubbed this wetness on Jay's lips.

"I love you tee-ruk, and you are mine." She whispered in his ear.

She let her body drift away. Sleep came to her. Her body went to work assimilating its blood meal with its unique digestive process. The farang blood was absorbed and changed, releasing regenerative energy and chemicals, greatly slowing the aging process of Lamai's incarnation. Her body was reconstructing itself, becoming a well of energy, youth and strength.

A dream came to her. She was walking away from her family. Her house and the farms were all behind her. She was walking towards a shadowy figure with a brilliant light behind it. She kept walking towards it but never saw who it was. A rooster crowing took her away from this. Isaan dawn brought its faint glow with the smell of cook fires beginning the day's morning rituals.

Jay still lay motionless, drunk, medicated and unaware. He would give anything to his darling, and he was giving her more than he knew already. Lamai went outside and slowly walked down a small trail to her mother's house. Her mother was squatting down by a fire in a concrete pot. She sat on a very short wooden stool and stirred the coals, bringing more air to the fire and more life to the flame. Lamai assumed a squatting position next to her and allowed the heat from the fire pot to warm her skin.

"He is not so fat and maybe a little handsome." Her mother said in the local tongue, the mountain people's blend of languages. "You usually bring someone fatter and more like a buffalo."

"Well, I wanted to see what slim tastes like." Lamai replied. "He will be staying for a while, as his body slowly heals."

"If he's not so fat, how can we feed from him without killing him?" Her mother asked.

"This one is just for me!" Lamai said indignantly. "No one is feeding from him but me. Do you understand this?" Lamai said forcefully.

"My daughter is very good at being clever," her mom talked to the fire, "But she would leave her poor old mother to starve."

"You are not going to starve!" Lamai said, "You have plenty of buffalo to feed from and I will buy you a pig too."

"Yes, my daughter would let me live on dirty animals while she enjoys the good meat." Her mom spoke her words towards the fire, placing a pot of water on it to boil.

"I don't see my sisters bringing in any fresh meat!" Lamai protested. "They can go out and get the meat and bring it back here, but they stay on the farm, waiting for me and my young sister to bring the money and the flesh."

Lamai's young sister Opal lived in Europe somewhere with a very rich man. Opal had only one farang, but he was very wealthy and supported Lamai's whole family. Opal had more status and favor in the family because her farang sent money regularly. Lamai resented this, because she worked hard, dealing with police, mafia thugs and foreign bar owners. She never married anyone, so she had to take her chances every time she tried out a new one.

Lamai sent money back to the family whenever she could, but not every month. She liked to live large in the city, enjoying the nightlife, the party atmosphere and the drunken orgiastic club scenes. She loved to spend money like it was water, and she would often pay for her whole entourage when she went out with friends. Besides the taste of blood, she really did love money.

Lamai was all about pleasing herself, and she was good at it. Unlike her two sisters who stayed on the farm, Lamai wanted more than the farmer's life of sustainability. She wanted more than the Thai idea of, enough to eat, enough to live. She was not content to stay in the center, abandon desire and be content with whatever she had. She wanted more, and she knew how to get it.

Because she was thin, pretty and clever, and especially because she could speak English, she was able to leave a life of working on the farm, bent over all day toiling to make rice appear on the eating mat for every meal, and instead have a life with comforts, intoxicants, luxuries and many decadent choices.

The family always talked very highly of Opal, but Lamai, even though she brought more wealth and flesh to the table than the other sisters and brothers, was ridiculed for not doing more. Her family expected more from her, and instead of giving her the status that she desired, she was still held in contempt for not being as wealthy as Opal.

Lamai hated this and would stay away for long periods of time. She would ignore her family for months at a time, and spend all of her fortune on herself and her friends. But somewhere inside her was a traditional country person. After spending long periods away from Isaan, she would get a homesickness that made her pine for the things of home. She would miss the simple life, her family and friends, the food and the local whiskey. She would miss the music and the performances by the Isaan dancers. She would miss the festivals, the candle lit rafts, the lantern lit boats, and the giant lighted bag lanterns sailing into the night sky. She was raised Isaan and it was part of her soul.

When she had enough money saved away, and she was tired of the stench of the city, she would return home. Here she was again, back with her family who relied on her and despised her sometimes. She was back with her farang feed bag. He wasn't rich. He wasn't even fat enough to drain much blood from. But he would be a snack for her, a sex toy and a distraction as well. Yet, some other feeling seemed to come with this foreigner. What was it about this farang that makes my emotions stir? Emotions beyond passionate hunger and sexual desire? Lamai dismissed the idea that she could love him. That would not serve her very well.

Although she was a little bit curious about her extra feelings for Jay, she knew she should just stick to her plan. Jay was going to serve a purpose. He was going to be the connection to Mr. Sekott. When Sekott's secret was revealed, and he and Jay were drained of what they were worth, then it would be a good day. Jay will be my link to that no good freak of a person, Sekott! Then I will know why Sekott wanted to get in contact with my new boyfriend. Well, won't Sekott be in for a surprise when he meets Jay's new girlfriend.

Lamai's mother took the black charred aluminum pot of water off of the fire after it had reached a rolling boil. She set it aside and emptied powdered coffee pouches into two cups. She poured a small amount of hot water into the cups and then stirred it into a muddy brown color. She handed Lamai a cup and sipped on the other cup. She reached up onto the table next to her and pulled down another pot with a lid. She opened the lid and reached her hand in, grabbing a handful of squirming fat leeches. She tossed the leeches into her mouth and chewed them up, staining her teeth red with blood. She pushed the pot toward Lamai, who turned her head to signal that she was not interested.

"My clever smart daughter likes her old mom to eat blood worms every day. Clever, smart, Lamai, who has all of the best for herself." Lamai stared down at her feet and sipped her coffee.

CHAPTER 8 DECEPTIONS

Between the sheets was where Lamai operated the best. She kept Sekott tangled up in the bed for several seasons, about two years ago. All she had to do was enamor him and he coughed up jewelry and large amounts of money. Sekott had many resources to draw on, like, his diversified investment portfolio and his bank accounts from all over the world. He kept his fat wallet full and he was always prepared to spend as much as it took to let the good times roll. Sekott had a large inheritance from his father's legacy as a University director and he would also receive regular contributions that the cancer foundation would grant him. It was nothing for him to lavish a girl with trinkets, especially when she pleased him sexually. While he was flaunting his money with Lamai, he had no clue about what else she had been enjoying from him.

Sekott had been in Chiang Mai because of his family, but being away from his family gave him the opportunity to live a free life, and he did for a while, sleeping with bargirls and doing homemade drugs. Eventually his conscious began to weigh on him and he decided it was time to leave the fun behind and go back to Laos to rejoin his family and care for his sick son. After learning of the strange blood anomalies in his son and his wife, he found the will power to pull himself away from a hedonistic nightlife he was living in Chiang Mai. Sekott, thinking he had walked away from Lamai forever, did not expect what was to come next.

Lamai had awoken alone one morning in Chiang Mai. Sekott was not there, and his clothes and bags were gone. Lamai felt dizzy and fatigued. She looked in her handbag and saw that her vial of sedative was half gone. She had put one of the eight doses in it in Sekott's drink the night before, and then, she couldn't remember anything else.

They were drinking at a bar, and then, .....the morning light roused her. That deceitful little prick knocked me out with my own powder, he must have. How else could the vial be half empty? And with the way Lamai's head was spinning, she realized that Sekott had given her a very strong dose. He could have killed me! That piece of buffalo shit!

Lamai was able to locate him again though. She had retained some of Sekott's blood, hair and semen in a vial on her shrine. In a large stone urn of water, Lamai spilled the contents of the vial and stirred it with a ceremonial blade. Over this magical urn I lean, seeking that which is unseen, where did you go, where have you been, show me the view of the surrounding scene.

Lamai gazed into the reflection of herself in the urn of water. She reached up a hand and touched her left eye. She pushed her fingers into the socket and with a considerable amount of effort and pain, she popped her eyeball out of its socket and held it in her hand. She leaned closer to the water now, close enough for the tip of her nose to touch it. She let her extracted eyeball hang out of her face and into the urn of water and Sekott's fluids. She closed her right eye and breathed in deeply.

As she exhaled, a cloudy scene appeared in her mind. The clouds slowly parted as she focused on the image of Mr. Sekott in her mind. She could see him standing in a medical facility. She allowed the image to congeal and become very clear. She recognized Laos people and Laos writing on the signs on the walls. She saw the name of an institute above a reception desk. She saw Sekott peering into a microscope and writing in a notepad. She knew where he was.

She painfully jammed her eyeball back into its socket. She would be blind in that eye for a few days, but she knew her body would regenerate and heal itself quickly, and that her full sight would be restored. This was a small price to pay for her dark talents as a seer. This was an arcane gazing technique that a powerful seer taught her in the past. His name was Hia.

¤

Today, Mr. Sekott, still in Pattaya, sat obsessing over an equation on his computer screen. He drank black coffee in a small shop that sold bagels and croissants and other western foods, as well as coffees and juices. This internet cafe was one of the places he used for a chill place to sit while he did his research. He liked quiet around him when he did his cerebral chores.

He was fairly certain that he had created a configuration of amino acids, which, when combined into a protein, created a shape that was impenetrable by the aggressive blood cells of the Pee Doot Lewat. If a cell with these characteristics could survive inside the body of the afflicted blood drinker, then, the next step would be to modify the genes of the cell to create an invasive type reaction. A successful creation would produce a new cell that would either modify or destroy the cells of the blood drinker.

If he could create a strain that would modify or assimilate the mutant blood cells of the Pee Doot Lewat, then he could turn his son's blood back into some thing mostly normal. Maybe this could work on his wife. Maybe this could work on any of the people from her village. His cure would then need an agent to return all of the changed mutant cells to normal functioning human blood cells, or the cure would only kill the Pee Doot Lewat. If the cure he was trying to create was used on a pure Pee Doot Lewat, that physiologically changed being would need a cure for the cure.

Considering the depth of the possibilities of this idea, Sekott knew if designed an aggressive strain without an agent to assimilate a human-like cell function, then it would only destroy the blood drinker's own blood cells. This would truly be a biological agent that was capable of genocide. Am I capable of genocide? He did not want to create something that would wipe out a race of people, but he kept this possibility in the back of his mind. If it became necessary, could I unleash a destroyer like this? How much would the army be interested in a weapon like this?

He wanted to cure and purge the vile blood abnormality from his son, and if possible, change his wife into something, more human? She was human, just different. How many people are like her? He wondered. How long have they existed?

He could see the evolutionary value of a mutation like this. Perhaps they have existed for a very long time, but now his concern was his son, his wife, and, himself. Now, he had to take the next step, to have a gene to do the healing work inside the afflicted body. He needed a geneticist, he needed some one he could trust, to be secretive, to bend the rules a little. Could he get Jay on board and Jay's brother?

Before Jay came to Southeast Asia, when he was living in Arizona, he worked as a contractor and was a green energy consultant. He enjoyed a lucrative career for a while, which enabled him to put more time and funds into his creative endeavors. He was also a writer and an artist, and he used his adventurous travels and spiritual gatherings as his muse.

Jay had traveled many places in the Americas and had a network of open minded, polytheistic, hedonistic, metaphysical, idealistic, psychedelic, music-loving friends. Jay never published a book, but he filled volumes with notes and journals, poems and art, songs and lyrics, diagrams and sigils. He had blogged a lot of his eclectic ideas through short stories and random ramblings on a web site he called "The Mother Ship."

Jay was considered the black sheep of his family, because of his ideas. He never was considered to be as prominent as his brother Daniel, who was an esteemed brilliant geneticist. Daniel worked in the Mayo Clinic, the Carnegie foundation and the ACMG. He even worked with the Betty ford foundation to work on a cure for alcoholism. He thought he might be able to save his brother if he could succeed at this.

Sekott had researched the geneticists working in the states and narrowed down a few candidates that he thought would be knowledgeable yet open minded enough to help him. He then looked for a way in to the lives of these people. By researching the lifestyles of these scientists, he came across a man from Tennessee, Daniel Michaels. Jay Michaels was the brother of Daniel Michaels. Jay seemed like the open-minded type of individual who could be that, 'in' to gain the aid of his esteemed brother.

Sekott found the name Jay Michaels through a web search, which listed him as a teacher in Thailand schools. Thank God for search engines and data mining. This seemed like Sekott's best candidate. He couldn't approach any respected person of the medical community with the preposterous proposition to make an eidolon nosferatu cure. Most people would find this a preposterous and outlandish proposal, and I would be, at best, laughed out of the intellectual community. I need assistance, not a critique.

The Pee Doot Lewat were a group of people, that the Western world was unaware of. Sekott had to get his aid carefully, secretively and deceptively if possible. If he could get Jay Michaels on his side, he believed he had a plan that could force him to besiege his brother's help. Sekott was willing to do what ever it took to make this happen.

¤

While feeling the pain in her optical cavity, Lamai, having been armed with the vision of where Sekott was, decided that she would pursue this bastard for leaving her before she finished sucking what she wanted out of him. No one had ever done that before. No one had ever been able to. She was the one who did the leaving. But with the absence of Mr. Sekott, so came the absence of easy money. No, she wouldn't just find a new farang, or call an old farang. She was going after this one. She wanted more money, more blood, and more satisfaction, that meant revenge. She bided her time, came up with a plan, and then fucked enough farangs to have the financial resources to carry out her plan.

She remembered a small city in Laos, where she was able to discern the location of the street that Mr. Sekott was living on by asking a few questions. People were happy to share gossip, and the stories about Sekott ranged from him being a handsome Casanova to being a ruthless whacked out drug trafficker. Unfortunately for Lamai, the information she received varied quite a bit and she only had a general idea where Sekott might be.

Having gathered enough information to learn that the village he stayed in was not far from Savanakhet, she did not have a hard time locating the exact location of the medical clinic he was known to work at. All she had to do was describe the messy blonde haired farang and his strange mannerisms and people knew exactly who she was talking about. This information that she received, along with her clairvoyant vision, led her right to Mr. Sekott's volunteer medical building.

From a distance, Lamai watched Mr. Sekott shuffle about the clinic, and he unaware of her surveillance as he awkwardly moved from work station to work station. She followed him to a house after he left the facility and saw the home that he was staying in. The house was much nicer than a typical Laos house. It smelled of farang. Lamai took note of a small Laos girl and a child living there. The child looked half farang, with light colored hair and skin. She assumed it must be Mr. Sekott's, and knew that it probably wasn't a perfectly healthy baby. She had seen mixed race babies before and they usually died before school age. Lamai got a room at a resort and watched Sekott's patterns for a few days.

One day, while he was working at the clinic, Lamai went to his house. She called out hello in Laos from the gate of the fence, "Sumbai Dee!"

A short village girl came to the door and looked out. "Sumbai Dee," she said in return.

In the Laos language, Lamai called back, "How are you today? I am a government worker sent to help new mothers with nutrition for their babies. I am from Thailand but was sent here to work with Laos families."

Dang looked distrusting at first and then asked, "What do you want from me?"

"Can I please come in and talk to you? I just want to ask you about the health of your son and yourself. There may be some free government aid for you and your family." Lamai answered.

Dang didn't care about, free, as Sekott could take care of her financially, but she was concerned about her son, Krueng, who wasn't getting any better, so she hollered back, "OK, please come in."

Carrying an official looking brief case, Lamai walked up to Dang's door and took off her shoes. She walked in and took a seat at a table where Dang invited her to sit down. She opened her brief case and took out some official looking forms and placed her hands in her lap.

"So, the Thai and Laos government would like to study the nutrition and health of all children up to 12 years old. Do you have any children that are in that age group?" Lamai asked.

"Yes." Dang said sheepishly, "I have a son who is one and a half."

"OK." Lamai said, "Maybe we can help you. In exchange for information, the organization I represent is offering free medical testing and free infant formula, as well as vaccinations and even specialty care if it is needed."

"Specialty care?" Dang asked, curious and hopeful.

"Yes, for children with special problems, we can approve special care for finding a cure for their ailment. Then, can I ask you a few questions?" Lamai smiled.

"Yes, go ahead." Dang shyly agreed.

Lamai took out a pen and a form, which written in English language. It was a car loan application. She held the form professionally and spoke, "OK, what is the name of the village you are from?"

¤

While he was working away blindly on his computer in a coffee shop, Sekott felt the familiar pains in his stomach that were occurring more regularly. He had them ever since he had been with Lamai in Chiang Mai. He had been tested for everything and tried all of the meds that the clinics and pharmacists were willing to throw at him, but nothing worked. None of the local remedies that he knew about and would self administer gave him any relief either. He began to consider that Lamai may have done something to him.

Sekott remembered his suspicions being confirmed when he first tested his own blood back in Savanakhet. He had found cells within himself with the same characteristics of his wife Dang. He considered whether or not Lamai had these same type cells. Sekott had only stumbled upon this anomaly when he was checking Krueng's blood for protein chain formation and production, and he observed something strange by chance. There was a slight difference in his son's blood cells than in normal healthy cells, but this difference made a drastic change in the creation of HGH and stem cells. It was nothing obvious and he found it only by mistake. The state of medical treatment and facilities here in the developing world must have surely overlooked this.

But today, as Sekott feared, he was possibly becoming the same parasitic organism as the people from the village in Laos. He was not a blood drinker, and hoped that he never would be. He knew he had to find a cure before this invader took over. He could only speculate what the speed of this transformation would be, but he was now certain that the Pee Doot Lewat blood cell was the dominant organism, and it would absorb and assimilate the weaker one. He was changing into something else at a cellular level.

The pain was there because his cells were craving a blood cell to transform. His infected cells began to assimilate the normal cells. This was the same observation that Sekott made when diagnosing his son. He learned ways to curb the pain a little. The local people found that staying drunk on the lao khao whiskey would stall the hunger. Also, the chemicals in capsicum, in the chili pepper, would sedate the hunger. Another way he learned to stave the hunger-like pains was to eat cooked blood-cakes made from the blood of pigs and chickens.

Sekott's mind raced in and out of past and present events. He thought about how he resolved to stay drunk and eat spicy soup with brown chunks of cooked animal blood as long as it took to find a cure, but he feared that time could become a factor if he was not prudent. If his body did not compete with the invading cells, he concluded that he would either die or become something else.

The thought of this repulsed him, and he decided that death would be the better choice. I may not be a good Christian, but I am a God fearing believer who will not take part in the devil's work. What did I do to deserve this affliction? Have I been so self-serving in my enjoyment of the drink, the smoke and flesh, that I am being punished now? He thought about this dilemma in a pious but remorseful way, as was his early childhood indoctrination.

He began to believe that these unique foreign people were something immoral, not just physically different. Maybe I can be the agent of genocide that a righteous God would show forgiveness to and grant a condolence, if I were to thwart the foul spread of this disease. Sekott's mind was functioning in more sporadic spurts of emotion as his physiological changes took place. He was becoming more paranoid and more defensive. He was becoming one-minded about finding a cure. He dwelled on the idea of enlisting help from Jay's brother Daniel. Sekott devised a devious plan to try and get him on board. He would inject and infect Jay with his own infected blood. If Jay were sick and needed a cure, he would surely get his brother to help with the treatment.

¤

When Lamai had given her best government worker performance to Dang, she was able to leave with the information she needed, but she had to act fast. If Dang talked to Sekott, he would certainly figure out that something was amiss and take off again. Lamai headed for Dang's village as soon as she left Dang's house.

At Dang's village, Lamai drove up on a rental motorbike and gave bags of candy to the children who approached first. She knew that this was always a good way to gain the favor of the parents.. She asked to see the village boss and the eldest man came to meet her.

Lamai described to him and the other elders, a story about a man named Sekott, who had stayed in her village several years ago. Lamai concocted a story and told them that this bad man Sekott, had conceived a daughter with her sister. Lamai went on to explain the Sekott disappeared with the baby and her sister. She described that a year later, her sister came crawling back into the village, badly beaten and had signs of repeated abuse. She continued this fabricated story with the elders, repeating that Sekott knew of their special diet, and that he used Lamai's sister and niece for all kinds of bizarre experiments.

Lamai went on to paint the picture that Sekott was actually working with the American government to create a weapon that the military could use against Asian people, and that he tortured babies and children with experiments to see how the weapon would react. The elders listened with anger and confusion, and demanded to know why she had come to their village.

Lamai told them that she had tracked Sekott to Savanakhet, and now she wanted to get revenge for her sister, but she was too small and too weak to do it alone. Lamai conveyed that when she learned of Dang and her son, Krueng, she thought that she should warn her and her family and try to persuade them to help stop this evil man. Too further influence them to join her plan to capture Sekott, she offered them a substantial monetary gift which made them lean in favor of helping her. The elders, believed Lamai's story, and were encouraged by the funds that were offered. They conversed and made plans to retrieve their family member, Dang, her son Krueng, and the foul Mr. Sekott. They would make plans to do this the same night.

¤

Sekott had tested his idea of being able to transmit the PDL blood agent with his own blood. He did this by injecting his own cells into cats, waiting a week, All the while starving them to see what they would do. The cats cannibalized each other as he suspected they would. As a control, he did the same experiment with a group of non-injected cats, and the result was different. The non-infected cats all died of starvation, with no attempt to harm each other, rather they died curled up together like kittens.

Sekott had assumed that this would work on humans. Lamai must have introduced her own blood into my system, but when? And why? If she could introduce it to him, then he could introduce it to Jay, he thought linearly. And the infected Jay would be led to seek clandestine help from a family member. Sekott was sure, that Daniel could help him complete the cure. Sekott knew he would have to befriend Jay, infect Jay and then coerce him with the strange truth, which he expected Jay could handle, given his eclectic and eccentric back ground. If that was not enough, Sekott knew that Jay had a daughter, living in Paris. This would be Sekott's back up plan. Another infected family member would surely be the pressure necessary to get everyone on board with him.

¤

Some time ago, Dang had set out some food from the market when Sekott returned from, what she thought, was his job and his work. She always believed Sekott because she had no reason to believe that he would lie to her. Sekott came home around dusk, as usual, hung up his overcoat and went into the water room for a shower. As he cleaned up, Dang warmed some bamboo soup, finished steaming some sticky rice and set out some barbequed pork bellies, chicken hearts, salted fish and grilled chicken butts. She ate a handful of fat leeches alone, making sure Sekott did not see. It would make him angry, as she knew.

Sekott came to join her at the table after he had cleaned up. First, he checked on Krueng, who was asleep. Snot bubbled out of his nose as he snored. He had been struggling through a series of sinus and bronchial infections as well as fever and stomach pains. Sekott did love this child, and he did love his wife. He wished that his son was not infected and sick right now. He wished Dang was not one of the Pee Doot Lewat. He wished he could enjoy the simple days of village life and get drunk and stoned in peace. He did not want to return to a Western lifestyle. He would be happy with a quiet, simple family, living the village life, preferably in a village of people who did not have a bloody secret.

When they sat and ate together, Dang told him about the visitor that came that day. Sekott could understand about forty percent of what she said in Laos. He recognized the words; official, work, lady, help, child.

He had asked her, what did she mean, as he scooped up spoonfuls of green bamboo soup. He made sense of her next sentence words: lady, come, here, ask, live, where, give, help, Krueng. "Who did you talk to?" he demanded, his ire rising. "What did you tell this person?"

"I say Krueng not OK. She say give help."

"I told you not to talk to anybody!" He said raising his voice. "People can not know about us here! I don't want you to talk to anyone!" He yelled at Dang as his darker side came out and his fears rose. "I- I- I have to get us away from here I think. We have to go tonight!" Sekott stood up. "Go pack your clothes and Krueng's medicines. We are leaving tonight!"

Dang didn't understand. Sekott was scaring her. Why is he angry? Why are we leaving? The woman today only wanted to help. She was very nice. Very, charming. Dang despairingly started to put Krueng's clothes and medicines and diapers in to a soft, colorful bag. Where are we going? What will we do? Why was Krueng always sick? Why was Sekott becoming more irritated?

Dang heard a loud noise coming from the kitchen. She ran in to see what had happened. As she surveyed the room in shock, she saw that the front door had been forced open and men were running into the house. Sekott had a sack over his head and men were hitting him with clubs. Dang saw her husband slump down to the floor, knocked out cold. The men began to tie his hands and feet. Dang recognized everyone. These were all men from her village. Dang's father walked through the door. "I am sorry Dang. We have learned that you are with a dangerous man. We came here to help you." He said to Dang in Laos. "I was worried that this farang was hurting you and Krueng. We are taking you home to be with your family, your people. This man is not one of us. He will bring shame to us and hurt our children."

"Why do you say this father? How do you know this?" She asked, concerned, confused.

It was just then that Lamai came walking through the front door.

¤

Sekott had woken up looking at the sun through the leaves of a tree. He was on his back, wrists, arms and ankles bound with rope. He was in Dang's village. His head was sore and he felt bruised all over his body. He tested his ability to move. His hands and feet were immobilized. He could wriggle his torso a little bit if he tried. What am I doing back here? How did I get here?

Lamai, the village elder, Dang and her father stood talking. "I know he is secretly working with the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. and the W.H.O." Lamai explained. "You know that farangs can't be trusted. That they always lie."

"You have to stay away from him Dang, and let us take care of this." Dang's father demanded.

Dang didn't say anything, she just stood there, looking down at the ground, feeling defeated. My husband is, a what? She wondered. Her village wanted to hurt him. Her son was sick. She was glad to be back at her village, but not under these circumstances. She, above all things, wanted her son's health to improve.

"I want to question him and find out what he knows." Lamai pronounced. "After that, it's up to you what you want to do with him, but I think it is a good idea to have his body show up somewhere else. If his government goes looking for him, you don't want them looking around here."

"I agree," said the village elder. "We do not want any other farangs with government agendas coming here." He agreed with little Thai woman, but he didn't know why he should trust her.

"Let me talk to him first," Lamai said, "then you can do with him whatever you want, OK?"

"You may question him," the village boss said, "But I want some one to be present and watch. I believe he is what you say he is, but I want to treat him fairly until I am convinced one hundred percent that he is who you say he is."

Lamai wasn't sure what to do next. She had him trapped. She wanted to brutalize him, maybe drink him dry, drain him completely and watch him shrivel. Maybe she could trick the village elder into letting her take him away. She was the one who had made all this come together. She had deceived everyone into do her bidding. She could keep this deception up as long as she needed to. She was so sure of herself and pleased with her ability to command the moment. Now, her sadistic mind wondered what was the best way to kill Mr. Sekott?

While every one was busy, Dang slipped away and went to see Sekott. He looked so helpless laying there tied up under a tree. She looked around, and when she was sure that no one was looking, she went and knelt down next to her husband.

"They say you want to hurt us, Why?" she beseeched him.

"Dang! I would never hurt you! I am only trying to save our son! I can not watch him die!" He said exasperated.

"Who is that woman here, the one who came to my house and said she was a government worker? She talks as if she knows you." Dang asked Sekott with a lost look.

"She is a liar. She is a dangerous person! She is fooling all of you!" Sekott said looking wild eyed and crazed.

"How do you know her?" Dang asked, looking confused.

"She must have followed me here from Chiang Mai. When I was away, I saw her spying on me at the medical facility where we live. I think she wants to steal my work." Sekott lied, with nothing left to lose.

"Why did you leave us before, Sekott?" Dang asked teary eyed, "Why did you go away to Chiang Mai and leave me and your son? Why?"

"Dang, you have to trust me." Sekott said looking very serious. "Krueng is sick because he is half farang and half, Asian. His body can not fight disease like you or I can. I am studying at hospitals to find help for him. That is the only reason I left. I only want to save our son!" Sekott looked desperate.

Why is Lamai here? What is she going to do? He knew that he had to get out of this village or he would probably die. He had no ideal what Lamai might have revealed about him.

"Please Dang! Help me get out of here!" he pleaded, "Untie my hands!"

Dang looked pityingly upon him. She wanted to help him but she was afraid. She was confused. She didn't know who to believe. "What about Krueng?" she asked.

"Take care of him and I will come back with medicine."

"I am afraid they will kill you if you come back."

"I am afraid that they will kill me now!" Sekott said with real fear in his eyes.

Dang thought she would regret it but she began to cut lose the ropes around his hands.
Lamai and one elder were now walking towards Sekott's location.

Dang said to Sekott, "They're coming!" and she dropped the knife and ran away.

Sekott placed his body over the knife. His hands were not free yet, but the ropes were cut almost the whole way through. Lamai knelt down with one knee on Sekott's chest. She put her face very close to his and asked, "Why did you drug me back in Chiang Mai, love?" Her eyes were hard and cold, unflinching.

"For all the times you did the same to me, and for poisoning me with your foul blood while you took mine!" Sekott said defiantly.

Lamai wondered how he had figured this out. One night after drugging him, she drained him of one quarter of his blood, bringing him close to death. She then cut herself and let her blood drain into Sekott's mouth. Her regenerative blood quickly began to regenerate and heal his body. It immediately began the process of trying to convert his regular blood into similar cells. She had been playing with the idea that she would turn him and make him work for her, when he grew so hungry he that would kill. How does he know about his?

Sekott saw a key ring hanging from Lamai's pocket. He knew that if he was going to try and get away that it was now or never. While she was talking, he managed to almost separate his hands. With one quick movement, he head butted her in the nose, smashing it. She fell back with pain.

With one wild effort, he broke the strands of rope holding his hands tightly and grabbed the knife. As the elder came towards him quickly, reaching to his belt to grab his farm machete, Sekott grabbed the knife underneath him and lunged at the older man.

Sekott's motion knocked the old man down and in that moment of advantage, Sekott stuck the knife into his neck. The old man gasped as blood filled his hands and stained his shirt. Sekott cut his feet lose with the farmer's machete and went for Lamai. She was trying to stand up, dazed with pain. Sekott clocked her in the temple with the butt of the machete and knocked her down. He quickly grabbed the keys to her motorbike from her pocket and made a mad dash for a group of parked scooters.

Some of the other villagers saw him running and began to shout. Everyone was caught off guard and confused about what was going on. Sekott looked at the key and saw it was a Yamaha. He surveyed all the motorcycles quickly and jumped on an orange automatic bike that looked like a rental. It had no plates. He tried to Jam the key into the key hole. He fumbled and dropped the key. Some men were starting to run towards him and others were running towards the elder who had been stabbed.

Sekott picked up the key and tried again. It fit. He had luckily chosen the right bike. He started it quikly with the electric start button and took off as fast as he could down the dirt road that led away from the village. He kept the bike at full throttle and did not look back.

As Sekott frantically rode the bike, he noticed a dust cloud behind him in the rear view mirror. There was no where to hide in the bright morning sun. Any where he drove, he would create an obvious and highly visible cloud of dust. All he could hope for was to out run his pursuers.

The motorbike Sekott had stolen from Lamai was maxed out at about ninety five kilometers per hour. He was afraid that it wasn't going to have enough speed to get him away from there. The villagers pursued him for about ten minutes and started to gain on him. The men were riding modified motorbikes and could travel faster with their standard transmissions. Sekott saw the road was turning to pavement. Ahead, he saw a medium sized bus with three rows of benches, packed with Laos people, school students and a group of tourists. Sekott figured he had one desperate chance to maybe avoid being killed by the angry men following right behind him.

CHAPTER 9 VILLAGE LIFE

Jay and Lamai walked through the local village market in search of the ingredients Lamai would combine into a traditional Isaan meal. They walked down rows of vendors sitting on very temporary looking tables and Jay had to duck because the thatch and tarp roof coverings hung down so low that they smacked his head. Every vender had a bamboo or wooden table that they parked themselves on while selling their goods, and everybody knew everybody and what they had for sale.

Jay saw every kind of vegetable that he never saw before, and only a few that he recognized. They were all bunched together in neat looking, securely-tied bundles. The market vendors were dominantly older women, and each one had her own market niche. Some old ladies sold mushrooms laid out in an artistic display on banana leaves. Others had buckets and bowls of live fish, crabs and eels. Also for sale were frogs, snakes, lizards, rats, birds and flying squirrels some alive, some dead.

There were bloody counter tops with piles of beef, pork and chicken meat with their accompanying organs. Jay was interested especially in the dried herbs, roots, leaves and barks that reminded him of Native American shops from the highlands of his home in Arizona.

There were also vendors selling spices and curries and chili pastes. There were stalls with clothes, some with toys, some with shoes and some with a strange mixture of household products, from condoms to tooth brushes.

Some ladies was selling strings of fresh flowers, incense and statues of Buddha. There was also row after row of food vendors with prepared food for sell. Soup, rice, barbequed meat and organs, coffee, tea, sodas, eggs, bamboo, fried foods and many items that Jay could not even guess the identity, were all laid out in carefully prepared display arrangements.

The smell was powerful, especially around the fish, squid and shrimp stalls. People walked around, carefully selecting their purchases. Most people that Jay passed stopped to stare at him for a moment. Farangs were seldom seen in this area, especially in the heart of the village market. Jay heard his least favorite word more than a dozen times, farang.

He followed Lamai like a little kid would follow his mom. Lamai stopped at several booths, surgically surveying each bundle of veggies and choosing one particular bundle over all others. She stopped at a table selling bags of a grayish-brown, chunky fluid. The smell here was overpowering. Jay asked what was in the bags.

"It's plah daeg." Lamai told him. "It's fermented rotted fish that has been curing for over a year in the hot sun along with the creatures living within it."

"Oh my gods! That does not sound appetizing!" Jay said, repulsed.

"Do you like the Som Tum, the green papaya salad that I make for you?" She asked.

"Yes! It's delicious." Jay replied. "You know I love Som Tum!"

"Well, the main ingredient that goes with the papaya is plah daeg. It tastes better than it smells." Lamai reinforced.

"I will definitely concur that it tastes better than it smells!" Jay interjected.

Lamai bought a bag of the rotten, dead-smelling fluid and added it to the other bags she carried. Jay saw one table with bags of dark red liquid on it. It looked like bags of blood to him, but he wasn't sure. He noticed that there was a bowl of leeches on the dirt floor under the table. The creatures were crawling all over each other in a twisting and squirming motion. What are those used for I wonder? Not very appetizing!

The old lady at the table smiled at Jay through her squinted, wrinkled eyes and red-stained teeth. Jay smiled back and then quickened his steps to trot up to his mom, Lamai. He stood close to her as she carefully selected a half a kilo of large shrimp, one shrimp at a time. He looked at all of the people looking at him. He was acting like a shy toddler now. He was definitely feeling like a stranger in a strange land. It was not like the city where he could get lost in a crowd of westerners. He was the only farang at this market. He stood out, and he knew it. He tried not to feel uncomfortable about this, but it was not an easy task. Everyone's eyes were upon him.

After Lamai had all of the ingredients, they walked back to her motor bike. She took her array of bags of foods and hung them on a hook on her motorbike. She climbed on and Jay got on behind her. Jay was amazed at how many different ingredients she bought. The only thing that seemed to be missing to him was beer, but he had already figured out where to acquire that ingredient.

Jay's leg was healing faster now and his arm would only be in a cast for a few more days. Jay had been in the village for three weeks now. He was not much help at the farm or at the house, because of his injuries, but to allow him to feel useful, he was given little tasks like roasting chilies and garlic and smashing them into pulp. Sometimes he was sent to the garden to collect peppers or flowers or greens. He was in new unfamiliar territory, but he liked the peacefulness here, and he was happy to be around his girlfriend, his lover, his partner.

Jay followed Lamai around like a little boy, and she nagged at him like he was one sometimes. Jay did not care much for the condescending remarks. He was ten years her elder. He was not the kind of person to take much shit from someone without barking back, but this girl had an uncanny power over him he thought. He bit his tongue more often than he was used to. He figured it must be love.

He felt an unexplainable love and admiration for this girl. He didn't mind her shortcomings. He smiled through the nagging. He obeyed the parent-like commands. He even thought it was just cute when his lady would fart or belch. He seemed to be unable to find fault with her. She was everything to him. He had forgotten about everything else.

He never thought about Kelly or Chompoo anymore. He didn't think about the crazy, loud, flashing bar nights with his crew, Tone and Money. He didn't think about his old teaching job and all of the students that he had begun to feel a fatherly affection for. He surely didn't think about the time he was almost murdered for coming too close to a local secret. Jay had lost touch with the world outside of Lamai. She had him wrapped up tight inside of it. He definitely did not think about how he was pushed off a motorbike by the woman he loved, he didn't even know that happened. He couldn't think about all the times he was drugged into sleep and forgetfulness, and then drained of some of his blood by the lips of his lover. He wasn't even aware of any of it. All he had was blind affection for this person, this beautiful goddess, this angel, who was using him and playing him every step of the way.

Jay was typically a very independent, strong willed person, with a stubborn desire to do things his own way. He was not often a follower, and would sometimes be a loner rather than go along with something that he didn't agree with. To be Lamai's pet was very unlike him.

Jay was too infatuated to see that he slept because he was drugged and his princess, his tee-ruk, his darling, was opening his flesh and drinking the blood right from his body. She was sucking on him like a leech, and to keep her meal blind and in the dark, she regularly was practicing dark arts upon him. She was continually feeding him her hair and bodily fluids and reciting incantations to exert power over him. She was keeping him manipulated, enamored, ignorant and powerless. When she was around, all he could do was smile. Ignorance was blissful for this unknowing farang.

She was his love. He loved a very selfishly motivated person, with a blood lust and a remorseless method of using people. He loved her completely and blindly. This was not his style, yet, he didn't even notice the change in his personality. Her magic was quite powerful, as she was practiced in the dark arts. Besides being adept, she embodied some kind of spirit that was unique and undeniable.

Lamai's sisters and brother spent the hot days cutting rice stalks, bundling them together, loading them on to a cart and driving them back to the home where the bundles would be threshed by hand. After long hot days of working in the fields, the cooler evenings would be spent beating the bundles on a wooden board to knock the rice off of the stalks. They planted their crops late in the season, so they also had a late harvest in turn.

This was a labor intensive process, and also nearly a financially negative farming practice, but every Thai family subsisted on rice, and rice was the way of life. Their family had been growing rice for as many generations as they could remember. Rice was the life of the Isaan people. They engaged their time and their daily life around the growing of this sacred grain. Life here could only be understood if rice was understood first. It was that way for thousands of years.

Every meal included rice, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. That is why people in Thailand don't ask, "Have you eaten?" They ask, "Have you eaten rice?" Jay was used to hearing this already. Even he felt like he was missing something when he didn't eat rice for a day. Jay failed to notice one thing about his girlfriend's family, there was one thing more important than rice that was part of their daily diet.

One evening while Lamai's sisters, Belle and Som, were thrashing rice, they were discussing Lamai and her farang toddler that followed her around. "Lamai hardly does any work around here, but her and her farang eat our rice everyday." Som rebuked. "She is not injured. She can work the fields. I know the farang is worthless. Even if he was healthy, he probably couldn't do the work properly. He's a farang!"

"I know, Som." Belle replied. "Lamai thinks that because she gives our mother money sometimes, or buys food from the market once in a while, that she does not have to do the work of the rice farmer. She's so lazy! It hurts me to watch her sitting around with her farang while we do the hard work in the fields. Our hands have blisters and hers have nicely colored fingernails"

"She doesn't even share him with any of us, not even mother gets a sip." Som protested. "We eat the animal blood and she drinks her farang like expensive red wine, all by herself."

"If we can make them both go into heavy sleep, then we can have a taste of her prize." Belle suggested. "Maybe tonight, we can slip them both the root powder. We can put it into their food."

"Be patient sister." Som related. "We will have this opportunity soon and we will drink from a stupid farang."

The sisters rhythmically beat the rice bundles, thinking of what it would taste like to drink farang blood again. They had it a few times but were commonly used to leeches and water buffaloes for their sustenance. Their jealousy of Lamai was motivation enough to take something that was hers.

Later that night, Mer, the mother of the family, and Por, the father of the brood, along with Som, Belle, Lamai's brother Ex, Jay and his special girlfriend, were all sitting on a collection of grass mats spread out on the dirt floor of the outdoor kitchen. In the middle of them were two large trays, containing several plates full of fresh greens, sautéed meat with garlic and scallions, a shrimp soup that Lamai made from the market ingredients and a bowl of steamed rice crabs.

They sat together, arms systematically reaching into the center to grab handfuls and spoonfuls of the prepared food. There were of course with baskets of freshly steamed sticky rice, which was the bread and butter of the Isaan person. Jay, Lamai, Por and Ex drank beers with the meal. The rest of the girls, along with mom and dad, drank water. It wasn't yet time to drink blood.

As they all ate and talked, Jay tried to understand what he was hearing. He was already picking up a few local words, but he only understood phrases like "eat rice," or "go where?" Jay was constantly on the sidelines, but this was true for any foreigner in a new place. The Asian languages, being tonal languages, meant that even if Jay stayed in one place for ten years, he would make only moderate progress. You have to think like a local person to talk like one. And how do you become local if you are born on the other side of the world in a totally different culture? He wondered about this idea often, but concluded that it was just part of the adventure of life he was living.

The rest of the family talked very fast in different cadences, intonations and inflections. Jay wondered if they were mad at each other, but Lamai assured him it was just their passionate way of speaking. Jay enjoyed the meal, the fact that he felt somewhat a part of a family and he was content just to sit next to his darling.

He often just stared at her, as if he was afraid he would miss something if he looked away. He had no idea how wrapped up he had become in her, but it seemed like his life made sense now. He wasn't wandering anymore, he had a family unit. He presently had a focus for everything, Lamai. He liked being a purpose driven person, and Lamai was his purpose. Life was simple and easy. Jay was also having some of the best sex of his life, with a beautiful, petite, sexy, Thai girl. The memories of his American family and friends somehow were put on the furthest back burner and they were not even simmering.

Lamai's drive was just to be lazy. She was living an easy life. She would sleep in a hammock during the day while her family worked on the farm. She would listen to pop music with her headphones on and tune out the world. She would go to the coffee shop with Jay and receive all the local gossip. She would do some leisurely shopping at the market, and Jay always insisted on paying so he could feel helpful. Lamai would help prepare food in the kitchen in the evenings, and then drink beers, eat, fuck and feed.

When Lamai had Jay in her room, she would peel his clothes off so she could tend to his wounds, and then she would tend to his penis. She never had to try to make him hard, he seemed to always be hard when she was near. Jay was healing quickly, especially because of the little bit of blood she occasionally gave him. Her blood had strong regenerative abilities within Jay's circulatory system.

Jay was always ready to engage his ejaculatory system with her. He was still in an arm cast, and his leg was still wrapped with gauze, so to make things easier, Lamai would crawl on top of him, and ride him until they both moaned with pleasure. This position gave Lamai all the control to direct the stimulus exactly where she enjoyed it most. If she started to come close to orgasm, Jay felt her energy grow and he did so simultaneously. They almost always came together. They had a sexual synchronicity that way. Their timing seemed to be perfectly matched. Even Lamai was amazed by this.

After sex, Jay would often be breathing hard, his blood pressure elevated and his adrenaline circulating rapidly. This was the perfect accelerator for the sedative Lamai would mix into his food along with other things. It ensured that Jay would pass out and be unaware of the fact that the lady he had such strong affection for, was sucking him dry in the land of smiles.

As a group, the family all ate from the same plates, but Lamai always handed Jay special dishes or special spoonfuls laced with her love-potion knock-out blend. The local herb wisdom had been practiced by the people for many generations. They could employ the use sedatives found in the roots of local trees. This would knock someone out and put them into a semi comatose state. It was a very good advantage for the blood drinker to have an immobilized source of food.

The chemical compounds in the root, acted like an analgesic to numb the body and lessen its ability to feel pain. It also acted like a tranquilizer, and slowed nerve responses promoting a tranquil sleep. It had the strong properties of inducing memory loss as well as supplying a healthy hangover. These side effects were what Jay considered to be the downside of drinking rice-brewed beer.

Lamai would buy the powdered dry root from old medicine women who knew all of the ancient crafts. Lamai always kept a bottle of this in her purse. It was what she used to keep Jay asleep and unaware. It was what Sekott had discovered was being used upon himself, that he in turn used against Lamai, almost giving her a lethal overdose.

It was the same powder that Lamai was eating tonight, unaware that her sisters had laced her beer with it. They also laced Jay's beers. They gave the couple enough of a dose to make them both sleep very quietly and solidly tonight. They had their palette set on farang juice.

That night, when Jay and Lamai retired to their room, there was no sex, no conversation, no laughing and no medical attention. They were both exhausted and fell asleep right away. They didn't even bother to pull the mosquito netting down around them

After about an hour, two shadows entered the room, two female shadows, Belle and Som. They slinked to the side of the bed where Jay was asleep and they pinched Lamai several times to test her responses. She was out cold. They licked their lips in anticipation of the liquid meal to come.

Som extracted a hypodermic needle from her bag. It was connected to a hose with a stopper valve. This was the same apparatus that they used to drain the cows and buffaloes for blood feedings. Belle lit a candle, and Som slipped the needle up inside Jay's cast where it found a vein and pierced the vessel. She missed. She tried again and found her mark. That first piercing would probably leave a bruise, but Som didn't concern herself because the blemish would be concealed by the cast. They wondered if Lamai was smart enough to draw from the hidden area underneath the cast. They wondered how she was feeding on him without him knowing it.

Som handed the hose to Belle and then released the stopper. The tube changed from clear to red, and like a thermometer rising, the red fluid pushed up into Belle's mouth. She savored this taste and drew big swallows, her eyes closed, slipping into a trance. Som let her drink for a minute and then closed the stop again. Belle's eyes opened and her face had a look of disappointment. She wanted more.

"My turn!" Som declared, and she took the hose and put it in her own mouth, releasing the stopper again. Now Som was sucking it in and her mind was slipping away from the room they were in. She felt her body become light and start floating. She could feel her body rising, slowly spinning in circles. She was swimming in this surreal state of languid ecstasy when she felt Belle pulling her back. "Stop it, he's slipping away!" Belle protested as she fumbled to operate the stop valve. Jay's body began to protest. His body started to jump and convulse. He was beginning his death throes. He had lost too much blood and he was slipping away.

Panicking, Som jerked herself back into her body and into this emergency. If he died there would be a family war on their hands. "Feed him now!" Belle yelled.

Som pulled of her pants and panties and squatted over Jay's face. She put her pussy over his mouth and began to squeeze her menstrual fluids out of her body and into his. She had a heavy flow today and hoped that she could give him enough blood to bring him back.

She felt the warm blood leaving her body and flowing into his mouth. Jay was not able to swallow and the blood just squirted all over his face and made a mess all over the pillows and the bed. This was not working out as well as they had thought it would. They just wanted a taste, but they were not skilled enough to judge how much could be taken. Jay continued to bounce and spasm.

The sisters panicked and ran out of the room. They had fucked up and now it was time to get the fuck out of there. They collected their equipment and Som pulled her pants on as they fled the room hastily and left Jay to his fate.

Fearing that they had taken him over the mortal edge, they made hasty plans to take a holiday. They grabbed two thousand Baht bills from their Mer's hiding place and took off on a motor bike. They could get to a bus station where an early bus left for Bangkok and they would be gone before Lamai woke up and found the drained farang. They figured they would stay away until things were manageable again. Their family would have to hire help to work the rice crop with their absence, or maybe that lazy bitch Lamai would do some work now, they thought.

Mer woke up and started a fire in the cook pot. She lit a wad of saw dust shavings, coated and packed together with bee's wax and tree resin. This little wick started a few charcoals burning, and then she added some small twigs, and lastly, some larger sticks.

The smoke rose into the air from this fire and similar fires all over the village. It was the signal of the day starting. Lamai did not come join her as she usually did. Mer spoke to herself, "What a lazy girl! Clever, smart little Lamai sleeps while others work. She thinks that lying on her back for farangs is work. She lets her poor old mother do the work. Lazy, beer-drinking Lamai!"

As Mer was thinking this, she heard a scream. "What the fuck!" Lamai was screaming and becoming hysterical. "What the fuck! Shit! Mer!"

"Jay! Jay! Wake up! What the fuck!" Lamai was shaking Jay and trying to wakeup herself. Her head was spinning and she knew she had been drugged. She knew this feeling. She was trying to pull her head together. As she was spinning from the sedative, she saw the blood all over the bed and she saw Jay lying motionless with skin a shade of blue. Jay was not responding. What the fuck happened? I can't remember anything! "Jay! Motherfucker! Wake up!"

Mer walked into the room and began shaking her head. She already knew what had happened. She heard the motorbike last night. It was the older sisters leaving. "Mer, call Ajarn Santee and tell him to come here now!" Lamai said as she threw her phone to her mother. She leaned down and listened to Jay's heart. Nothing. Nothing. Then, a very faint, bpa-dum. He was still alive, but barely.

She listened to his nose and heard the slightest amount of air moving. Who did this!? She wanted to feed him but had no way to get her blood into his body. She would need a syringe, but she did not carry one now. She liked to do things naturally. Where can I get a fucking syringe? Maybe belle has one. "Belle! Belle!"

Mer was on Lamai's phone talking to the Buddhist Monk, Pra Ajarn Santee, and pleading with him to come quickly. Things and people didn't move very quickly in Isaan, and Ajarn Santee was suggesting that he could come after the morning prayers and breakfast.

Lamai heard this conversation and screamed, "Tell him to come now! Fuck the fucking prayers!" She was panicking. She was afraid of losing Jay. She was afraid. Lamai was never afraid. Why was she afraid now? Did she actually care for this lump of farang flesh?

CHAPTER 10 AJARN SANTEE

Pra Ajarn Santee arrived at Lamai's house in minutes, escorted by his driver, who was a farmer from the village, dedicated to helping out the monks because he believed it was what he should do. The monk stepped out of the truck wearing his typical golden colored robe and his unlikely terminator-looking sunglasses. Ajarn Santee was a short but stout man in his sixties. He had stubble for hair and a few religious tattoos visible on his hands and arms. Mer waied to him and pointed him towards the house and the room where Jay was lying, close to death. Lamai was kneeling at Jay's side holding his hand and stroking his brow and hair. She was actually worried about this stupid farang. She had already cleaned the blood from his face and put a new clean pillow under his head.

Ajarn Santee walked into the room after climbing the steep stairs with his old legs. "And what is the problem here?" He asked Lamai in English. Ajarn Santee was fluent in seven languages.

Lamai waied and bowed to the respectable monk, "Ajarn Santee, thank you! My boyfriend has been drained of his red water. His life force is very small now. Will you please help him come back?" She pleaded with him.

"Well, let's have a look at him, OK?" Ajarn Santee bent down and sat in a kneeling position next to Jay after having a small battle with his spine and legs to cooperate. He opened Jay's eyes with his thumb and looked into them contemplatively. "He is very close to the next door," the monk said, "But he has not gone all the way through yet. I think we can still help him. Do you know what has happened to this white man who is dying?" he asked Lamai with a gaze that required nothing but a truthful answer.

"I think that my sisters were feeding on him." She said, having understood from Mer that her sisters were gone so early in the morning. "I don't know one-hundred percent. I was asleep and I when I woke, this!"

"That's OK. It is good to drink but too much is no good," he said, "I want to be alone with this dying man now."

Lamai understood that she was to leave. She waied Ajarn Santee again and touched Jay's hand one more time, then got up and left the room. Ajarn Santee closed his eyes and brought his hands together into the praying position. He began reciting Thai prayers to ask the many Buddhas to be manifest in him, in order to aid a soul not ready to join those seeking the wheel of reincarnation. His voice became song-like as he recited the incantations in a monotone chant. Jay lay motionless, lost between the worlds.

Mer was telling Lamai not to be angry, and that her sisters were not bad, they were just jealous. Lamai cursed her sisters for doing this even though she wasn't one hundred percent sure that it was them. Lamai tried calling them on Belle's mobile phone but the phone must have been turned off. "Those stupid girls don't know what they are doing!" Lamai shouted at Mer, "They don't even know how to drink without killing! Why did they do this to me? What did I do to them besides buy the food they eat?" Lamai knew a way that she could still help Jay, so she started her motorbike and sped off. She needed to procure a feeding kit. She knew she could find one at the shop with a wagon wheel in the yard and no sign.

¤

Jay was walking through a dark, misty, swampy forest. The trees around him were barren of leaves. Gray in color, if not black. The ground was soft and spongy as he walked barefoot through it. He was aware that he was naked. There was no one else around. He walked through the forest shadows not knowing where he was going, only knowing that he should keep walking. He heard a noise and turned around.

In the distance behind him he saw something glowing, maybe a fire. He felt a hesitation. Should I walk towards this light? He decided no. He kept walking in the direction he was going. He thought he saw a faint glow ahead. He kept walking. He felt very buoyant. Even though the ground was muddy and wet, his feet seemed to barely touch the ground and they stayed dry.

He realized that he didn't have any bandages or a cast on. He felt like he should remember something but it wasn't there. There was no memory to have. He kept walking. He wasn't afraid, but he felt very alone. He felt as if he were the only person alive. He had no recollection of ever having known anyone. It seemed that being alone was all that he had ever been. He kept walking. He felt tired. He wanted to stop walking. Should I stop walking? Why am I walking anyhow? He sat down in a pile of dry leaves. He felt very tired. A noise occurred behind him again. He turned to see the golden brightness again. He was sure that it was flame. What is that? Is it coming to me? Should I go to it? I am confused? What am I doing here? Where is here? I am so tired. He thought he heard a voice. A woman's voice. It was very faint and so far away. It somehow gave him a sense of home, of something familiar. Did I hear a voice? Is there someone else here? Where is here? Where is that voice coming from? Kelly, is that you?

¤

Kelly had been asleep for about an hour when she screamed and sat upright. "Jay!" she screamed. She felt panicked. She was able to recall the vision of her recent dream very vividly. Jay was in a dark canyon far below her. She was on the ridge looking down in. She could barely see his body but she could make out his figure walking. She saw a Mist enclosing the forest that Jay was walking through. She saw a fire burning there which seemed like the safest place near Jay. She knew that he had to get out of there or he would never leave. She shouted to him from above, "Jay! Jay! You have to get out of there! Leave now! Don't stay there! Go and don't stop!" She knew he had to keep moving. She knew he was in trouble. This forest was going to devour him. She saw him stop moving and sit down. "No! Jay!" Kelly jumped awake, fearful that something terrible had happened.

¤

Ajarn Santee was now lighting candles and incense and drawing symbols on Jay's body with yellow and red paint. The monk was trying to reach Jay's soul so that he could talk to it, give it direction, give it suggestion and, if necessary, give it peace. The name of this monk was Santee, which translates to, Peace.

Ajarn Santee could feel Jay's presence. He tried to become luminous so Jay's soul could see him. Ajarn Santee felt himself emerge in a dark forest as a flaming apparition. He tried to become very present there so Jay could feel and see and hear him. He was sure that Jay was aware of him but it seemed that Jay was despondent to his presence there. Ajarn Santee would have to be louder, bigger somehow. He asked his master to aid him in changing form, and with that meditation, the monk became a large flaming bird. He flew over Jay's dreaming, seated figure.

Jay looked up and cringed downward as he felt the heat of a fire on his skin. He saw a giant flame in the shape of a dragon above him. He stood up and peered at this magnificent creature. He was not afraid. Jay could not see the forest any more. The trees were gone. The mist was gone. All he could see was this flaming beast. It became the dominant scenery, bathing everywhere with light.

¤

Lamai knocked on an old wooden door on the house with no sign and a wagon wheel. She stood on a shady path that led from the road to the house. An old woman opened the door a little and looked out. "I need the sharp drawing tube." she said. The old lady gave a nod and closed the door. After a moment the door opened again and the lady placed a cloth tied with webbing in Lamai's hand and held up two fingers. Lamai handed the old lady two hundred Baht and hurried away. The old lady closed the door again, and watched Lamai through a small crack in the wall. No birds chirped in her yard.

¤

Kelly felt completely confused. She hadn't heard from Jay in a long time. She had been starting to forget about him. Why now? Is he OK? She had some very distressing thoughts. She tried to call Jay to find out if everything was OK. The call produced a computer generated voice that identified this number as unavailable. Kelly couldn't sleep now. Why did she care about him anyhow? He fucked her over by just breaking contact and never giving her so much as a good bye. He was a real asshole, but she still had some loving feelings left for him. She turned on her computer and began composing a message.

Jay, I don't know where you are or what you are doing. I just want you to know that people still care about you, that I still care. I am worried about you. Why don't you talk to me anymore? I have the strange feeling that some one is trying to hurt you. I know there is something I have to tell you, but I'm not sure what it is yet. I know this sounds crazy, but please stay out of canyons, and if you find yourself in darkness, find a way to climb higher so you can see what is going on around you. Trust the safe warm fire near you. Miss you ~ Kel

¤

Ajarn Santee, saw Jay's inner eyes. He knew he had his attention in the spirit world. He called on his master to give him the power to lead Jay back to the bedroom where his body was lying. Luangpu Pupan, Pra Ajarn Santee's teacher and master, appeared next to the shining, flying, flaming apparition. Jay saw the image of a golden shining monk next to the flying beast. "Follow me." Jay heard these words inside himself. He trusted that he was to follow these beings. They began to move away. Jay stood up, and began walking in their direction. As they moved through the air, Jay followed. Jay kept walking. Soon, Jay was not aware of his feet at all and floated along behind these bright visions, following them somewhere.

¤

Lamai rolled back into her yard, hopped off of the motor bike and headed for her Mer's house. Mer was outside in the garden praying and tending to her plants. She was asking for safety for her sons and daughters. She was asking for blessings and protection for everyone in her family. She asked for help for the farang, if it was possible, and to help clever, angry Lamai relax and come down.

Lamai took a seat on a grass mat on the floor. She untied the cloth bundle, took out a plastic case and opened it. She took a needle in her fingers and screwed it onto a syringe tube. She pushed a plunger into the tube all the way. She took this apparatus and stuck it into the vein in the elbow crease of her left arm. After inserting the needle into her vein, she slowly drew the plunger back, and watched as the tube filled with rich red blood. When the syringe was full she extracted the needle from her arm. She held this tube in her hands and closed her eyes. Power flowing, strength growing, all knowing spirits showing, death slowing, offer bestowing, empowered and living, life force giving, as within, so without, into the fold he is allowed.

¤

Jay watched as the bright images climbed into the blue sky and traveled far into the heavens. Suddenly, he was not aware of them anymore, only of the sun burning above him. As he was floating upwards, he thought he should move towards the sun. He felt that the images that he saw had gone there. He would go there too. He kept floating upward.

¤

Ajarn Santee opened his eyes. He gazed at Jay's still motionless body. Lamai appeared in the door way behind Ajarn Santee. "Come in here." He said to Lamai, not turning around to look at her. She came and knelt before Ajarn Santee and bowed into a fetal position three times.

"I have shown him the way back, but it is up to him if he decides to choose to return. If his soul does decide to come back, his body will fight him. His body wants to rest permanently. I am not sure if it is strong enough to accompany his soul's return." he said to Lamai.

Lamai placed the syringe in Ajarn Santee's hand. "This will help his body resist the passing."

"I know my daughter. I will give it to him. You are already inside of him, I have seen this. It is the only thing that has kept him alive still. There is a small amount of your essence within him, giving him a small amount of the power your body contains."

He comforted Lamai, who was looking at the ground, feeling depleted in energy, violated and confused about her new feelings for the white man. "I will give him this, but you must let him come with me." Lamai looked up startled.

"But I have been caring for him. He is my charge."

"He must stay with me if he is to make a healthy recovery. He may return to you when his body is well again." The monk insisted. Lamai reluctantly agreed. She knew this was the only way, or let him die, and she didn't want him to die. She thought she might even miss him.

Ajarn Santee handed the syringe back to Lamai after he prayed into it. He asked his master to guide this organic fluid safely into Jay's essence and bring healing without corrupting. "You must give him this Lamai." He told her. "You know how to do this better than I can." So, with that instruction, Lamai pierced Jay's vein in his good arm and injected her blood into his vessels. Jay's body jumped once, and then continued to lay motionless. "We have done all that we can do child." the monk related. "Now we must wait. It is up to him now. He can do whatever he wants."

Ajarn Santee stayed at Lamai's house that day. He spoke with Mer and with Lamai about the incident, about the sisters, about their farm and their family. Por showed up later in the afternoon and had a very stern look on his face. If the word got out that a farang died on his land he would lose status and become the focus for suspicion. Why are my daughters so stupid? He felt that he had failed in showing them how to live properly. He thought they knew how to eat without being greedy.

Lamai sat with Jay for long periods of the day. She watched him, checked his breathing and wiped his body with a wet rag. She began to feel a strange emotion that was uncomfortable to her. She felt remorse for causing Jay to wreck and for allowing her family to injure him to this end. He might die. She thought of how hard he tried to please her. She could see him smiling at her with complete admiration. She had used all of her powers to charm him, but she felt that maybe there was something more. She wondered if he would love her even if she hadn't enchanted him. She felt a tear run down her cheek. She cursed herself for allowing this weak emotion, but yet, she wanted to taste this unfamiliar feeling. She cared for him. She wanted him back. The sun began to set on the farm.

¤

Jay became aware of a warm wet feeling around him. He was no longer floating towards the sun. Now he was floating in water. It was a sea. The water was blue and dark but began to change color. The water became turbulent. Waves started rocking his body and splashing his face. The water had turned a deep shade of red. He felt the waves become stronger and stronger and he could no longer stay afloat. The sky became dark. The red waves pulled him under. He began to panic. He tasted the salty red water in his mouth. He began to choke on it. It tasted like, blood!

¤

Jay coughed. Lamai looked at him wide eyed. His head turned slightly to the side and he coughed again. Lamai grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Jay mumbled a few sounds and began to turn his head back and forth. Lamai smiled and became hopeful. Jay vomited all over himself and the bed.

"Jay! Jay!" Lamai called to him, anxious to see him again in the world of the living.

"Lamai?" Jay said in a very faint voice. The red waves were gone, the blue sky was gone. The dark forest was gone. These visions slipped away like a dream gone so quickly in the morning. He was feeling pain again, but also a renewed sense of well being, an inner strength that he had not felt before. "Lamai are you?"

"Yes, Love, I'm here!" She said excitedly, "Rest, Jay. You are safe. You are going to be OK. Just rest tee-ruk."

Ajarn Santee, Mer and Por joined Lamai in the room with Jay. Ajarn Santee stood over Jay and said, "Hello, Jay. I am Pra Ajarn Santee. It is good to see you! How are you feeling?"

"My head is throbbing. My fucking head! Ow!" Jay spoke, "What is going on?"

"You had a sort of, accident, but I am going to take care of you. You will come stay with me and I will help you recover. I want you to see the temple where I live."

Lamai looked at Jay and said, "It's OK. Ajarn Santee is a good man. He will take good care of you and I will come see you as soon as I can."

Jay looked into Lamai's face. He loved this face. He did not want to leave this face. But he was feeling very different now. He felt that nothing really mattered anymore. That anything was OK. He felt that everything was going to be OK. He felt very tired, and strangely, empowered. "OK." Jay said indifferently.

"Good, good my son." Ajarn Santee said. "When you are well you can return here." He looked to Lamai. "Lamai, you should think about a way to make an offering at my temple." Ajarn Santee suggested without asking, "We want to be discreet about this or the villagers will talk. You know how they like to gossip."

"Yes, Lamai." Her Por said, "You will make an offering at Ajarn Santee's temple from our family." Lamai looked at her Por, understanding what this meant, several thousand baht.

Everyone in her family would want this to stay quiet. No one could know. Lamai's sisters would not tell anyone in fear of reprisals. Por did not want to have any disgrace on his family that would lower their status. Mer would not want to face the gossip of all of the ladies in the village and at the market. Lamai would not want anyone to know that she was careless enough to almost let a farang die in her bedroom from loss of his juice. These were the rural Pee Doot Lewat politics.

Mer was already worrying about her other two daughters. She worried about what Lamai would do to them. She worried about what they might do to Lamai. Mer wished that Lamai had never moved away and had just stayed on the farm. They were alright before. Yes, they were poor, but they had enough to eat, and a sufficient house and farm and garden. They could all feast on the animals, and keep their respect. Why did her daughters have to bring farangs into her family. Farangs are not worth the trouble for the money they contributed, and their blood, albeit more delicious than that of the buffaloes, it was not special enough to give up one's dignity.

Ajarn Santee was not ever known to be a blood drinker. He was not suspected of being of the same line. Everyone thought of Ajarn Santee as a typical human being, someone without the thirst that they knew.

He was quite aware of who in the village was special and who was normal. He did not judge or show favor. Ajarn Santee was not a typical monk. He was a rebel. He was schooled in tradition, but wise and free-thinking enough to look at all possibilities. He was not-so-orthodox that he was bound by every prescribed rule and expectation. He was a free thinker and a lover all things.

Ajarn Santee was a spiritual teacher and healer, who drew on all of the power of the universe. He was known and respected in this village and throughout the province. He was called upon several times to help a dying person who had been drained too deeply. The villagers knew they could trust him and knew that he was a skilled healer. He didn't rebuke people for drinking too much from another person, rather, he saw it as children playing with a force that they didn't understand, like a toddler playing with a hot coal from the fire. He couldn't blame anyone for simple ignorance. He would not give them instruction though, on how to drain someone properly. He would only guide them in the direction of loving all beings and having respect for all things.

CHAPTER 11 SAMHATI

Jay walked around the grounds of the temple compound, absorbing all the peaceful beauty around him. He watched leaves falling slowly to the ground when the breeze blew. He inhaled deeply and was lost for a moment, in the pleasant scents of the fragrant blooms that were saturating the air with their presence. Jay noticed the contrast of shade and sunlight on the walking paths, and looked at this as if it was the first time he ever noticed dark and light. The temple ahead of him had a steep, pointed, red-tiled roof with columns of fading, peeling, gold-painted pillars which were supporting it. There were statues and paintings of the Buddha everywhere on the grounds. Everything looked perfect.

Ajarn Santee was out for the day, repairing potholes in the road as a service to the villagers. He worried that they would drive into the pot holes at night on their motorbikes and have an accident. Ajarn Santee knew that the government would not fix the roads. They pocketed the money allocated for projects like this and had no concern about road safety. Ajarn Santee was the kind of monk who tried to do something real for the people, not just offer prayers to the air.

Jay had visited many temples before but now he was living at one. He had been there a couple of weeks already, and he contented himself to enjoy the peacefulness, which allowed him nap often, to heal and recuperate. Jay's cast was gone now and his leg bandages were no longer necessary. His body had recovered from the loss of blood and he was approaching a full recovery. Staying at the temple kept him sober as well. A couple of weeks with out beer did not kill him like he thought it might.

Jay also felt inclined to start meditating again, and had peaceful and insightful experiences while sitting and breathing. He focused specifically on connecting with Ajarn Santee's master, Luangpu Pupan.

Jay liked to start out with simple breathing exercises and then meld into a visionary state that was half-dreamlike and half-subconscious thought. In these visionary states he would experience events and ideas that he would often relate to Ajarn Santee and his master. Ajarn Santee was very interested in these experiences and tried to make sense of them for Jay. The monk had become Jay's healer, mentor, counselor, interpreter and good friend. Jay learned a lot while being at the temple, healing and growing in insight and understanding.

Lamai came to visit him every few days. At first she came everyday, wanting to know about his condition and health. Her hold on him slipped away a little, and Jay was content to absorb the energy of the temple. During his stay at the temple, Jay was not having sex, he had also not been charmed, coerced, drugged nor drained. He was starting to feel a renewed sense of health, which was the best he had felt in a long time. He did feel a different connection to Lamai now. He couldn't explain it, but it felt more like sibling affection than it was an infatuation or obsession. She knew her sexual hold on him was beginning to fade.

He knew that Lamai's blood was inside him. He knew that it was likely that Lamai's sisters had tried to drain him. He knew many things about the life of the Pee Doot Lewat now. Ajarn Santee had been his teacher in this mystery. Ajarn Santee had also given Jay information about how to protect himself from those who would take selfish indulgences with him. Jay was now armed with information. He was not upset with anyone. He had a sense of peace. No need for revenge. Living became just, a blissful existence, free of drama, free of stress, free of parasites.

Jay walked past a very large tree and stared up at the bright sky through the large green leaves. This is what life is! He thought. I am the eyes of the world, so that I can experience beauty, and therefore create beauty. Beauty exists because I perceive it. Because I perceive it, I react to it, and I react with happiness. I am a catalyst for happiness. Happiness exists in the world because I feel it. Because I feel it, I know I exist. I know I exist because I can feel the warm life giving rays of the sun on my skin, and I can see the shadow that is created by my body, which stands and exists between heaven and earth. This shadow confirms that I am here. And in this simple knowledge of existence and perception, I am happy. Jay stopped at a large urn of water and removed the lid. He dipped a ladle with a hollow coconut cup into the cool water and pulled it up to his lips, taking a deep, slow satisfying drink.

With his thirst quenched and his soul at peace, he continued a slow stroll down the dirt and moss covered path, aware of the darkness that existed inside the rings of the living tree, every living leaf, every tiny breeze, every current of warm air. He was aware of the feeling of his breath passing through his nostrils, the feeling of every twig and grain of sand and stone under his bare feet, the temperature of the sun or shade on his skin. He had the awareness of the cycles of the earth turning, the moon waxing and waning and the slow turning of the universe at the speed of light. He was tuned into the perfection of all things.

There was something new about Jay. He had a peace that he had tuned out for a long time. He had more of a connection to nature than he had ever felt before. There was no anger or resentment or vengeful feelings. He felt that everything led up to this moment, where he could enjoy the pressure-less existence of chilling out in a monastery, living simply, simply existing, eating, praying, living. Jay knew he could not remain here forever. He was not quite ready to become a monk and give up all of his worldly possessions. He was ready to enjoy this respite, this time to relax, to be introspective, to heal and learn, to just be. This was a great experience.

Jay walked up to a small temple shrine. Outside the shrine there were seven white Buddha statues all facing East. They were seated in the lotus position, their hands cupped together in the position of Samhati or meditation. They sat in peaceful, closed-eyed silence, never saying a word but relating an infinity of information. The small building had a half wall around its eight sides. Along the top of this short wall was a dragon or Piyanah that wrapped its way around the whole building. On the outer side of the wall were concrete embossed images of Ganesha, Erewhan, the swan and the Garuda. Jay walked into the shrine through the one opening in the wall, petting the dragon's head and tongue as he walked in.

The inside of the wall was covered with images and words painted in real gold. There was the symbol of the alligator, the goat, the pig, the rooster, the cow, the monkey, the peacock, the open palm and the all-seeing eye. In the center of this shrine was a statue of Luangpu Pupan, who was seated in a large white lotus flower, with two Piyanah serpents curled around the flower and raising their heads at his feet. Behind him were three golden Buddha statues, and another statue of a standing figure with his palms containing eyes facing the observer. All over the inner columns and ceiling were images of the eight petal lotus flower. The artistically painted script in Thai writing urged Jay to understand more about what he was seeing and feeling.

Jay knelt at the base of the image of the master and bowed to the ground three times, repeating the motion he saw Thai people do every time they were addressing the Buddha. He then lit a candle and placed it in a hole on a long metal boat that was designed to hold candle offerings. He took three incense sticks and lit them from the burning candle. He held the burning sticks between his praying hands and closed his eyes in reverence. Who ever is listening, powers that be, spirits of this land, I give my glowing heart full of good feelings to all things. Jay exhaled to let this prayer flow out of his soul and body on his breath to diffuse into the air around him and the larger universe as a whole.

Jay waved the incense sticks in the air to extinguish the flame and then placed them in an urn of sand. As the smoke curled upwards in wispy spiral motions, Jay added another prayer. Please, powers that be, spirits that see, come to me. Guide my steps and my hands, to do the work of the universe in the best way possible, in this foreign land. Help me to be the best me that I can be, and do the best good in the places where it is needed the most. Give me the strength and motivation and power to adhere to good practices. Bless me with remembrance, so that I can invoke this bliss that I feel, and keep me on a path of healing. I give healing, growing energy to all beings and to all the spirits of this land. Thank you for today!

Jay moved his body into the lotus position and began to breathe deeply. He allowed his breath to enter his nose slowly and spill into his abdomen like water from poured from a pitcher. He allowed his body to fill with breath like a full urn of water, and then let the air slowly escape, from his head, then his chest, then his belly and finally his roots. He repeated this slow deep breathing until his state of mind changed, and he entered a trance-like state. He began to become dreamy, but was fully awake and aware. He began to see a lake, shining in the sun.

Jay relaxed into this quiet state and allowed the visions to appear. Sunlight bounced off of a lake and left sparkling diamonds glistening on its surface. In the middle of the lake was a small temple, with four gold columns, no walls and a red roof. To the east of the lake was a group of trees making shade on the ground and it had the feeling of a park. To the north were bushes and shrubs with butterflies leisurely sipping nectar from tiny flowers. To the west was a hill sloping away from the lake and Jay was standing in the south, where there was a boat tied to the shore. Jay got into the boat and paddled out to the temple. Inside the temple, was a monk seated in a large white lotus flower with three golden Buddha statues behind him. Jay tied off the boat and walked into the temple. He knelt down in front of the monk who was facing east, and bowed three times. The monk did not say anything, he just looked into the distance, knowing, understanding.

Jay silently asked the monk for healing for his body. He asked for the blood in his veins to be returned to him the way it was when he was born. The monk held his palms out forward, and Jay could see that there were sigils painted all over his hands in red, and that in the center of each hand was an eye with many colors in its iris. The pupils contained a burning flame and light radiated from these. The monk placed his hands together, and then, as he pulled his hands apart again, a ball of golden light grew. This ball grew and grew until it encompassed the entire temple, then the lake, and then as far as Jay could see, everything was bathed in golden light. The monk reached out and with one finger, he pushed on Jay's forehead. The monk's finger went right into his skull, through Jay's third eye. Jay felt a warm feeling in his head as the monk entered him. Jay felt an idea forming in his brain. That idea was to bathe a waterfall. He began to see the world around this waterfall and a word became stuck in his head, Chanaen.

The monk withdrew his finger and then reached his hands into Jay's chest. His flesh and bones were not solid for the monk's touch. His hands went right into Jay's sternum and he could feel a hand wrapping around his heart. The monk closed his eyes and Jay felt a very warm sensation in his chest. The golden light around him shrunk and became smaller and smaller until the light went into Jay's chest through the monk's hands. The monk withdrew his hands, and then, holding a glowing ball of light, he released that light into the air and it rose skyward until it was out of sight. The monk began to stare towards the east again, contemplatively. Jay bowed before the monk three times again and then left the temple in the boat that he came in. When Jay reached the shore, he tied the boat to a root and got out. Then, he opened his eyes, and brought himself back into his body, sitting, meditating at the temple of Ajarn Santee's monastery.

Jay relaxed in this peace and then left the temple, to walk and think and enjoy the moment. Jay thought back to the first day he came there. He did not want to come, he just wanted to stay with Lamai. He couldn't wait to leave. And then, after a couple of evening conversations with Ajarn Santee, he realized that he was in a very good place and had a lot to learn there.

The big shock for Jay was to learn about what Lamai's sisters had likely done to him, and that Lamai had probably been doing the same thing. Jay was still unclear about what Lamai had been doing to him. She didn't volunteer any information and she was very vague in answering any of Jay's questions. All that she was willing to admit to, was that her sisters had probably tried to feed from him and took too much, but she wasn't sure because they were gone and no one was there that night to see what had happened. When Jay asked her if she had been feeding from him, she would say that it was complicated, that she wasn't like the others, that she never tried to or never would hurt him. She told him that she fed from other sources. She would never actually admit that she was drinking his blood.

Jay thought that Lamai was probably a professional liar, but Ajarn Santee was not capable of it. Ajarn Santee explained to Jay about 'the ones who feed from others' or the 'Pee Doot Lewat,' the ghosts who eat blood. Ajarn Santee spoke in carefully chosen words, and spoke with his eyes as well as his mouth.

"You should know, Jay, that there are many things in this world and in other worlds that are not what you are used to accepting or understanding. The world that you have created in your mind, your collection of experiences, judgments, intelligence, ideals and rationalizations, they are all a small drop of water that you view reality from, from inside that drop of water. The universe contains a never ending storm of raindrops, each with a perception of what is, and each one is correct. No two drops contain the exact same view, and each holds a piece of the whole. When these drops are joined together in the great sea of existence, we are able to see through other drops, other eyes, if we allow ourselves to become open. You have that openness, that ability to see through other eyes, so you must be open to understand what I am going to tell you.

When Buddha walked on this earth, he became an open channel for enlightenment to happen. He had learned all of the practices of meditation and prayer, but he would not accept them as completion. He opened himself up fully and transcended all the realities that he ever subscribed to. Buddha then shared this knowledge and wisdom with those who would listen.

At this time, there was another mortal being, who was a wise student like the man who became the Buddha. He had studied the same practices and meditations of yoga, which eventually led him to see that these were only limitations. This wise being, also transcended his incarnation, and received information about the inner workings of the universe.

The Buddha became a being of compassion, the other man, became a selfish person, who wanted more and more and was afraid of losing what he had attained. He became a master of protection, of encasement, of embodiment. Rather than continuing to dissolve his ego, he sought to protect it, prop it up, and maintain it. In his works he sought to find a way to live longer, he feared death. He could not believe that letting go of his own being would be a cosmic bliss of joining with all that is. He wanted to hold on to what he had. He became the embodiment of attachment and selfishness.

Some people thought he had gone mad, and others saw him as a prophet. So while Buddha showed the path of eliminating attachment and suffering, the other teacher showed that the way to eliminate suffering was to seek that which gives you life, and the cult of the Pee Doot Lewat had it roots here.

Over the years there were experiments with animals, people, magic and prayer. A change occurred within this group of people, and no one is sure what happened, how they changed. But from these ancestors more than twenty five hundred years ago, there became a new line of people, who did not age like the rest of us. They had regenerative powers and lived to be very old. Some elders are claimed to have lived hundreds of years. The thing that maintained this enduring constitution for them was the consumption of the liquid life-force, blood.

People today drink the blood of animals to continue this process. It is said that the ancestors of this race would drink only from animals. Today, not every person is reverent in their methods, and greed and perversion have maligned the souls of selfish people who would take selfishly from other humans.

There are five precepts to follow for those who call themselves Buddhists. They are; Don't lie, Don't steal, Don't have sexual misconduct, Don't use intoxicants and, Don't kill. The precept that states 'Don't kill' also means don't hurt other living things. There are gradients of this rule, for instance, it is a greater sin to kill a human than it is to kill an animal. Because most people are generally good people, they try to keep their sins as minute as possible. The worm is very low on the scale of sentient beings, so the people can eat the leech, and not commit a grave moral offense. The leech was the creature who actually took the blood from another entity. To eat the leech was only as offensive as eating a shrimp or a fish, and the leech contained the blood that the special people needed to maintain their long-lasting health.

Over time, generations and nations of people have changed and evolved. There are those who do not care about karma and will live a life of complete self-promotion. There are those who have turned this unique feature into a perverse hedonistic hostile craft. There are those uneducated people who don't know what gift they have, and follow their urges blindly. There are those who live an austere life, who try to not incur bad karma, and live with this life process never hurting anyone.

You, Jay, have brushed up along side this world. I do not know the reason why, but my master does. You must ask him why you are here, and what purpose do you have to become part of this world. He will reveal to you what you need to understand, and he will help you if you ask him. He knows what everyone is thinking. He sees everyone's life from birth to death and knows what piece of the universe each soul reflects."

This was a powerful story that Ajarn Santee related to Jay. Jay remembered listening to this in awe and amazement and, at first, disbelief. Ajarn Santee went on to tell him that his body was now a vessel for this special life force to some degree. Jay was still a regular human being, but he had Lamai's blood in his veins now.

It was now necessary for Jay to ingest blood to keep himself alive. He had lost too much of his own blood and was dying when Ajarn Santee first saw him. He was shown a way to avoid death and how to reenter his body, by following Ajarn Santee and his master through the spirit world, but it was the special blood that Lamai injected into his veins that healed him enough to allow his body to continue living. Jay's body had to be living so that his soul or essence could return into it.

Now, Jay's body was strong again, and it had the added regenerative qualities of Lamai's blood. Also with that blood came deeper, richer perceptions of things that Jay did not normally see. His senses were all heightened and his mind was quicker, sharper, more aware. His ability to delve inward was more focused and he felt like he could commune with the forces of nature unlike he was ever able to before.

Ajarn Santee instructed Jay how to accept this healing energy, but how not to become seduced by it. Ajarn Santee gave Jay meditations to do that would help him stay spiritually separate from this force and how to keep the force separate from his natural self. This force was an alien inside his body, and several things could happen.

It could destroy him and kill him, physically or mentally, but this did not happen to Jay because his constitution was very strong. Another thing that could happen is that this new blood would convert all of his own blood and he would become Pee Doot Lewat. When this would happen to a common person, they would usually end up insane and spiral down a path of self destruction.

If the changeling did not kill himself, his body might. The physical rejection of this transformation most often ended up in a sickness and hunger that deteriorated the body tissues into something like gelatin. Evolution had so far selected for one of these two outcomes to happen most of the time. The Pee Doot Lewat were a species unto themselves, an offshoot of humanity.

Ajarn Santee gave Jay medicinal herbal drinks that would slow the transformation. If Jay was to retain his natural form, and revert to having the blood of the common, shorter lived people, he had to follow the steps that the monk described to him.

The monk told him that he may go in any of these directions, only time would tell. It would pretty much take a miracle for Jay to ever be a hundred percent normal again. Right now, the best thing was to slow the transformation or halt it. If they could do this, maybe, the undoing could be accomplished. Ajarn Santee did not guarantee this.

Spiritually, Jay would need the assistance of a powerful being, and for this need, he was introduced to Luangpu Pupan, a very wise monk who died thirty years ago and became a Buddha. Luangpu visited Jay in his visions and purified his spiritual and energetic bodies with his light. Jay's physical body needed to drink medicine and eat foods that slowed the change. These included very spicy chili peppers, simple meals of rice and moderate amounts of plah daeg, the odorous fermented fish sauce.

Mentally, Jay needed to first accept, then understand, what this all meant, why it was here, and it's history. Ajarn Santee became Jay's spiritual mentor and doctor. Now, Jay had to listen to the information he was receiving and follow these directions.

This ethereal advice, along with the physical diet and regiment, was the path for Jay to return to being as he was when he was born. Ajarn Santee conveyed to Jay that it was very important to revert, or he may be driven mad, become insane, become greedy and selfish, become driven by powerful forces that he could not control, or rot and die. Jay believed this, and even though he was amazed and intrigued by the deeper senses he was recently experiencing, he knew that he wanted to be normal again. He wanted to stay, a normal human being. He wanted to be there for his daughter and his family, his friends and someday, maybe, again, a wife.

Where did this leave him and Lamai? He wasn't sure. He knew that he did not want to live at the house where he was injured in. He thought it would be the wisest idea to end things with Lamai, but he still thought about her everyday. He thought about their bodies touching, skin on skin, lips on lips. He thought about eating and shopping and riding together on a motorbike and doing everything together.

Jay didn't like the fact that Lamai took him into harms way, but he didn't like to think about being alone. He liked having the purpose driven life that he had with Lamai. He thought that he could marry her and create a family, but how could he? He didn't really know what Lamai was. He needed answers. He needed Lamai to come completely honest with him. If he was to have anything at all with her, she would need to come clean and tell him everything.

Jay continued walking the grounds of the temple. He was now engaging in the walking meditation he had learned. He would walk to a location, turn around and walk to another location, then repeat it. This walking meditation could be performed for an hour or two, and the goal was to have a single focus or prayer, to become one with this thought, to become this motion. Jay walked with his mind focused on understanding Luangpu's interaction with himself. This was his next step in the healing process.

He felt drawn to go to the waterfall of his inner sight. Jay learned about a waterfall called Chanaen falls. In his vision and during the walking meditation, this idea and this word became loud in his mind against his other thoughts. He would find this place and immerse himself in these holy waters. It required a great deal of acceptance and faith to let his often noisy nonstop mind become the trusted conveyor of direction and guidance.

CHAPTER 12 MEMORIES

In addition to the help and education that Ajarn Santee was giving Jay, he also brought in another monk who was skilled at removing curses. Whet Mon Dum, or Black magic, was practiced by some people in this country and a few monks knew the way to untangle these knots that the dark arts tied. Isaan people were often under the misconception that Weet Mon Dum came from Cambodian people, and that the closer you went to Cambodia, the more likely you would be to become exposed to black magic and which makes you sick or go crazy or die.

There were dark arts being performed in every country, by a variety of people, in a variety of cultural specific ways. This is the reality of human nature. Some people lead quiet sentient lives, others, pursue indulgence through selfish means, and Lamai was one of them. She practiced an Isaan form of the selfish, dark arts, and she wasn't Cambodian at all.

What the visiting monk did for Jay was to first determine if there was a darkness inside of him. The monk directed Jay to kneel with his hands in a waiing position, and then wrapped a string around Jay's head and a bucket of water, making seven loops. The monk lit a long golden candle and placed it on the surface of the water. As the candle dripped wax into the bucket, he chanted and prayed, and Jay did his best to repeat the Thai prayer, even though he did not have a clue what he was saying.

When the prayers were finished, the string was unwound, and the monk asked Jay to peer into the bucket. Floating on the surface of the water was a mass of black colored candle wax. This black color identified Jay as a vessel with something dark inside. The monk confirmed what Jay had already suspected. Something from the dark side had been wrapped around him, changing him, influencing him to be blinded to reality.

The removal of black magic seemed easy, Jay thought. All he had to do was sit on the ground and be cleansed by the twenty five buckets of holy water that were dumped over his head. Besides the water being a little cold, it was also wet, he joked to himself, keeping the situation light.

After the repeated dowsing, the exorcism was complete. Jay was then instructed to go to the hong nam and take off his wet clothes. When he did this, he noticed a very large black spider crawl away from where he set down his wet shorts. He wondered if this arachnid was Lamai's voodoo leaving his physical body in an earthly form.

Jay changed his clothes and met with the monk, who had only one question, "Are you still thinking of her?"

Jay thought about this, and answered, "no." The monk smiled, knowing he had cured another unfortunate farang who was under the charms of a Thai lady. Jay wondered, what had Lamai done to him for real, and did the monk really remove it? Is it that easy to remove? Why only twenty five buckets of water? He still thought about her.

What am I going to do about Lamai? He realized that he was probably better off without this kind of mess in his life, and his intellectual self told him to end it. Jay wasn't superstitious and didn't believe in black magic or exorcisms. He went along with the banishing ceremony because he was being polite. He had no idea.

Jay's heart did not completely agree with his head, and his penis had entirely different ideas. He told himself that he had no proof that Lamai had ever done anything to hurt him. She gave him an inside view of Thailand unlike any tour guide could do. She fed him real home cooking that could not be reproduced in a restaurant. She gave him some of the best sex that he ever had. Even with the ritual that the monk performed to remove her hold over him, a part of Jay was truly in love with her, and no amount of water dumped over his head, no matter how holy, could remove that.

Jay was skeptical about the success of the exorcism, but he was sure about one thing, his time away from Lamai had knocked some sense into him. Jay realized that he had been acting like a lovesick, throw-caution-to-the-wind, fool as of late. Yes, he wanted to find a mate and have a family and settle down, but he also wanted to be wrapped up in the arms and legs of someone he could be very passionate with.

This was not the usual Jay and he knew it. He thought that Lamai did have some kind of hold on him, be it supernatural or not. Why am I so nuts about this girl? Why am I so willing to forgive her and defend her? The powerful magical bonds that she evoked, and her sexy frame, cute smile and beautiful eyes were the answer.

Jay also benefited from having an alcoholic reprieve. Jay used the unclouded time for personal reflection and reviewed his actions and beliefs and ideas, some real soul searching. He couldn't accept a black or white explanation. Those separations are always shades of gray that change in relevance. He didn't view the world as good or bad. Those judgments were not for him anymore. He enjoyed pursuing lust and hedonism as much as seeking enlightenment and philanthropic pursuits. He viewed this all as a part of a gray existence. The shade of gray depends on the mind perceiving it.

The lack of intoxication and the time to reflect created a map of Jay's life which he could easily view. Everything that happened up until now was right there in front of him and extremely focused. It was simple for Jay to see that he was raised with the indoctrination to try very hard, take everything very seriously and do as much as possible. Now, with a very laid back influence from the way of life in the land of smiles, he was able to accept doing nothing, being happy with what he had, and lightening up quite a bit. Jay was shedding his porcupine quills.

He viewed life as good but bad, so black it became white, so big yet so small. As the illusion of the paradox faded, what came along next for Jay was the sense that everything just, is. Everything was just part of one complex, is. Whether he lived like an austere monk or a carousing party animal was not a conflict or a contradiction anymore. It only was part of being. So, Jay resonated with the concept that he only had to be. How could he fail at that?

These thoughts were not injected into him the same way the new blood had entered his body. These thoughts were an awakening that occurred in the moment because he was ready to understand them. The religious indoctrination of guilt, the societal idea of striving for perfection and the political concept of morality, these mindsets were no longer serving.

Much like the mental reconstruction he was undergoing, the damage to Jay's body had been reversed to a great degree, due to the rest and diet he had regimented, and due in large part to the infusion of blood. The regenerative blood made Jay's body strong, and now that he had recuperated, that blood was no longer necessary to his system

Ajarn Santee told Jay about some of the people that converted to Pee Doot Lewat. If a person's blood was drained to less than fifty percent and if new, regenerative blood was introduced, that person could be converted within one moon cycle. New beings were created this way when it was deemed necessary. Sometimes it worked, bust most often it did not, and an unpleasant declination occurred.

The monk did not know if Jay's system had been drained past this point, so to protect Jay, he was doing everything possible to delay the assimilation. To reverse the transformation, Jay would require divine intervention, and possibly a blood transfusion.

Jay related his vision of the waterfall to Ajarn Santee. The monk knew of this place in the Northeast and he and Jay made plans to go there. The monk asked Jay to drive him in his truck, and they set off together to Chanaen Waterfall. Ajarn Santee did not like to drive, nor was he permitted to, according to the written rules of his religion. On the drive there, Jay had many questions for the monk.

"Ajarn Santee," he began, "What is the significance of this waterfall that we are going to visit?"

"I don't know of any special powers that it is known for," he answered, "Local people use it for recreation. But if my master has directed you there, then he has a purpose for you there. His directions are not random."

"Do you know if Lamai's sisters have returned?"

"I have spoken with Lamai recently and she claimed that she did not know where they are."

"Do you know if her family, if they all drink blood?"

"Everyone I know from her family is this way, Jay. They are not bad people, they are different from what you are used to."

"Have you ever seen anyone change from someone like me to someone like them?"

"I have seen this happen."

"What was it like for them Ajarn? Did it change them completely?"

"When some one is transformed, it is a slow process, and the changes can be subtle but daily. Someone who is not mindful of their existence might not notice a change within themselves, only a change in their desire to drink blood. Most often, people go mad, and even kill themselves. Few convert without problems and join the community of Pee Doot Lewat. People's hearts contain what they contain already, and this change in physiology does not change the heart. People change their own hearts in their own ways."

"Do you think I am becoming a Pee Doot Lewat, Ajarn Santee?"

"I can not say. I will slow it down when it is happening. You must pray to my master and ask him to help you. He has powers that we can not understand."

"Do you think that I can stay in a relationship with Lamai, but not be like her kind? Have you ever seen if mixed marriages can work?"

"I can not tell you what to do with your heart, Jay. But if you want to know what I think you should do for your time here, stay the fuck away from her!"

¤

"I'm very sorry Lamai. We fucked up! I don't know what else I can say." Belle exasperated.

"You fucked things up really good!" Lamai added. "My meal is gone, my boyfriend is gone. Mer's daughters are gone and the farm work is not getting done. I help as much as I can but everyone is out in the fields and Mer can't find workers to come help her now."

"I will bring you a new farang if that is what you want." Belle offered.

"No! That's not what I want!" Lamai shouted into the telephone. "What I want is for you and your stupid sister to come back here and help Mer. That is the most important thing right now, getting the rice bagged before the birds and the mice eat it all. What I want from you, I will settle with you when you are back here."

"If we come back, how do we know you won't try and kill us?" Belle asked.

"As much as I would like to do that, I can't. Mer needs your sorry stupid asses at the farm, so just get back here!" Lamai shouted and then ended the call.

She shook her head, frustrated. What was she going to now? How was she going to get Jay back? How was she going to get back at Sekott? What was she going to do to her sisters? These questions rolled around in her mind and then, with a flash of insight, an idea began to congeal. She grew a wry smile and thought about the logistics of her plan.

¤

"We're going back." Belle told Som.

"She will try to fucking kill us!" Som protested. "You know that Lamai will not let this slide."

"I know, that is why we will have protection. We will bring a farang back with us, and we will allow her to feed on him. But we will put the Lewat poison in him first, so when she does feed, she will get the blood sickness. While she is weak, we will arrange, an accident. Poor unlucky Lamai!"

"That is crazy!" Som interjected. "We need to fix things now!"

"We have already gone too far!" Belle said, "We can not go back. We have to finish our problem with Lamai, and this is the only way."

"Mer will be very upset!" Som protested, "Mer will never forgive us."

"Mer will never know that it was us," Belle said, "It will be an accident, we will make it look like the farang did it, then we will have to kill him and can offer him as a final feast to the worms!"

"Where are we going to get a farang?" Som asked.

"Leave that to me," Belle leered, "I know how to make this all happen in our favor!"

¤

After school let out, Tone and Money met up at Gunter's PuYing Palace for beers, like they had done so many times before. It was a typical late afternoon in the bar, not too many customers, bar girls eating often, and Tone and Money talking about eating bar girls.

"I think I want to put my balls on her forehead." Tone said, gesturing a nod in the direction of Chompoo.

"So you want to be Eskimo brothers with Jay, do you?" Money asked. "You know Jay is going to ask you how his dictate."

"Do you see that mother fucker anywhere around here?" Tone passionately asked. "Hell no! That fucker took off like a fart in a sea breeze and never smelled back. He's hooked on the scent of some stank and he forgot that he had friends. Fuck that mother fucker anyhow! Eskimo brother my ass. I'll make him my Eskimo bitch!"

"It is so strange that the school doesn't know anything about where he went, or how to contact him." Money reflected, "And why doesn't he check back with us? He has our phone numbers."

"You know why he doesn't call us!" Tone reflected, "Because he can't take his mouth off that titty long enough to speak any god damn words! But damn! It ain't like him to just disappear without a trace."

"More pussy for us right?" Money suggested, holding up his bottle of Leo beer for a toast, "That's what's up! More mother fuckin pussy for us!" Tone said as he slammed his bottle into Money's, causing it to foam over.

¤

After driving for four hours, Jay and Ajarn Santee arrived at Chanaen Falls. Ajarn Santee pointed to a dirt parking lot and Jay pulled the truck in. Jay would have never found this place by any map. There was no sign at this pull off, but Ajarn Santee knew that this was the place. They got out of the truck and stretched their legs and backs.

"So, now what do we do, Ajarn?" Jay asked.

"What did my master tell you to do?" Ajarn Santee asked in return.

"Well, he gave me the name of this place, and the idea that I should purify myself with the water here." Jay replied.

"Well then that is what you must do." The monk said. "Come. Follow me here."

The monk headed down a dirt trail and Jay followed. They walked down the path, through the Payung and lime trees, past hanging spiky vines and thick, tall, creaking bamboo stands. The air was warm and dry and had fragrant smells lofting on it. The insects of the shadier habitats still sung their cacophony of music. Birds dipped, dove and weaved stealthily through this organic substrate.

The trail ended at a creek with large boulders and pools of clear water. There were no humans in sight, only spiders, flies and fish. Ajarn Santee sat down on a rock and opened a bottle of drinking water.

"You must do as my master has shown you, Jay." Ajarn Santee said.

Jay looked at the old monk, hoping for more information or direction but none was forthcoming, so, Jay turned around and looked at the falls on the other side of the pools. They were not Niagara Falls by any means. It was a few months into the dry season and no rain had fallen in some time.

There were three tiers to the waterfall complex, each one about a meter or two high. Jay took off his sandals and rolled his pants up and waded in. The water was cool but not cold. Little fish swam in the opposite direction of his wake. Water striders and sunlight mingled with the water surface like dance partners. This was a very beautiful, peaceful scene Jay noted. He felt a peacefulness and a longing at the same time. He was longing to understand this trip. He was longing to be cleansed, and he was longing to move on to the next step of his life. He was also longing to have more of this heightened awareness that he was experiencing.

Jay thought about Lamai, and life with and without her. Jay thought about his students and co-teachers back in Pattaya. He thought about his good friends who he had lost touch with and was not happy about doing that. He thought about all the bars and all the ladies. He saw Chompoo's face and her bangs cut straight across with her long hair on the sides. He thought back to Kelly, and realized that he had not talked to her in a very long time.

Jay realized that he had been so wrapped up in Lamai that he let everything else in his life become forgotten. He thought about the motorbike accident with Lamai, and the fact that she didn't get hurt. He thought about the incident with her sisters, and again how he had come to serious injury. What was Lamai doing to me?

He was feeling a flood of past memories come crashing into the beach that was his current focus. As he walked through the water, about knee deep, he realized that he had blown everything and everybody off, because he had been entirely wrapped up in one bizarre relationship. He knew already that this had to change, that he couldn't stay with Lamai anymore.

Walking across the pools of water, Jay was also crossing through pools of memories . When he arrived at the other side, he looked back, and he could not see his monk friend anymore. Jay took off all of his clothes and plunged his body into the pool to completely dowse himself. He came out of the water taking in a big breath and stood up, dripping in the warm sunshine.

By some instinctual direction, Jay climbed up the rocks in the first tier of the waterfall. Up there, he could see another single large pool and the second tier of the waterfall. He waded naked in the water and under the sun, towards the next level of rocks and falls. He thought to himself that he must have salmon ancestors, as he has always loved to walk upstream. His injuries were healing fast and his motion was hardly limited, even scrambling up boulders.

As he walked through the next pool, he saw more memories come flooding back to him. He thought of his daughter who he was having infrequent contact with. He thought of her in high school and what things might be like for her, what she looked like, what she liked to eat, what music she liked, what her friends were like. He missed her more than he knew.

He thought of his brother and his sister, and of his parents. They were all so far away. He felt close to them now though, like they were near. He thought of his extended family, all of his aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews.

As Jay reached the second waterfall, it created a lot of noise with its cascading, strong motion, and all of the other sounds of nature were inaudible. Jay listened to the power of the water and felt its energy as he walked into it. Water cascaded over his body in cool, strong currents. He felt very clean, but he did not have any insight at this time, only the lingering memories of everyone back in the states. When Jay reached the next waterfall he instinctively climbed up through the strong water, like his salmon grandfather, up through the pouring forces. He pushed through its power and exited into the sun again and one final pool to cross before the final tier of the waterfall.

Jay stood there, dripping wet, naked as the moment he was born, the sun cascading its life-giving, life-destroying rays on his skin. Jay waded through the third pool towards the other side. He looked around as if he were being spied on.

Jay suddenly felt naked. There was no one there though, why did he care? As he walked in this water, he felt insecurity wash over him. He wondered what he was doing here in this country, naked, in the jungle. Insecurity and doubt infected him. He began to feel unworthy of life. The water felt thick. He stopped having the will to even move. Things felt stagnantly unimportant.

He now stood before the final waterfall after crossing the final pool. Feeling low, Jay turned around and stood in the waterfall facing out. He opened his eyes and tried to look through the water that was pouring over his head and rushing over his extremities. He began to feel the doubt and self defeating thoughts leave him.

He felt a presence like his mother's, but not his mother's. It was a larger mother, like a goddess-energy, an all encompassing love. He felt this presence propping him up and giving him peace. It made him feel safe and loved. He was receiving cosmic grace. The mother goddess of creation was insisting that he feel how wonderful his life was, and wanted him to see all that he was.

Jay began to reel back in his mind, remembering all of the times he spent drawing as a kid. Book after book was filled up with drawings and paintings. He saw sculptures and models, snow igloos and mud forts. He saw all the things and ways that he was creative as a child.

He began to see tree houses and stone pit houses. Shacks and wig-wams that he made with his friends. These memories changed into tipis and tents and buses and vans. All the living places he created as a young man. His memory began to encompass all of his creations, houses that he had built, furniture, fire pits, shrines, altars, gardens, pools and ponds. Everything he ever created seemed to flash before him.

Instead of the doubt and insecurity he felt a short while ago, he now saw his worth, his contributions. The final memory that came to him was his greatest ever creation, one that he could take half the credit for, but not really take any credit for. He was thinking of his daughter. He saw her infant figure after she had just emerged from her mother. He remembered being weak-kneed and emotionally overwhelmed at his first sight of her.

Jay began to cry tears of joy which added a small amount of liquid to the water he was standing in. His existence, what he was, as a human being and more, all added to the universe he existed in, increased its creative potential, and Jay felt that his creative possibilities were endless. This was the definition and feeling of infinity.

After seeing the image of his daughter, he then saw his ex-wife. He remembered being together as a loving family. Jay began to see all of the women that he ever loved and saw the beauty that was in each of them. All of his relationships, right up to the present one, had ended, for some reason, but he saw each woman as a teacher, a lover, a friend and companion. They were not failed relationships, they were seasons of sharing. Every relationship contributed to what he was now. He felt within himself the love that he had to give, to share. He saw the last person he loved, Lamai.

This memory kind of kicked him in the face and he wasn't sure how to process it. The direction his mind was following in, was showing him the beauty in all of his relationships. He tried seeing the beauty in his fling with Lamai, but he kept being interrupted with feelings of mistrust.

He saw a very clear image of Lamai, standing before him, looking innocent, her eyes shining with love. He had a strong caution to believe there wasn't any good in this vision, but he wanted to feel something else. He felt that maybe there was a way for the two of them to be together, and then, Jay lost his footing, slipped and took a tumble forward, he was face down in the water. His head had hit a rock and he was knocked out cold.

Unconscious, Jay lay face down in a pool of water in the warm evening sun. Ajarn Santee sat on a rock, not so far away from Jay, wondering if Jay was receiving insight from his master. Tone and Money drank beers in a bar with beautiful ladies. Lamai was thinking about what she was going to say to Sekott to get him to come to Isaan, and how she would kill him and blame his death on her sisters. Lamai's sisters were talking to friends about farangs and where was the best place to pick one up. Sekott was typing away at his laptop computer, half-crazed with his increasing obsession to construct a new organism. Jay's daughter was joking with her friends about who was the cutest boy in their class. Kelly began to have a vision of Jay form in her mind's eye, very clear and immediate.

Jay saw a dry dirt road in front of him. Being the adventurer that he was, he began to follow it. Behind him there was no road, only a dark abyss. The road led him down a hill, and became very rocky. Jay scrambled over the boulders and kept moving on what looked like a trail. Ahead Jay saw an oasis of trees and a pool of water amongst a very dry landscape. Jay moved in this direction. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Kelly saw Jay in a dry land, walking towards her. She was standing by a pond, with trees and flowers and a thriving ecosystem. She waited for him to arrive. She knew he would be coming there.

Jay walked up to a pool of water and saw his girlfriend Kelly. She looked at him, and he, at her. It was a long time since they had eye contact. This looked real to both of them.

Kelly had something to share with Jay, she didn't know why, but she had to connect Jay to the soil of this place. She reached down into the bank of the pond and pulled up a handful of muddy earth.

Jay walked across the pond to Kelly. He stood quietly in front of her, taking in the image of her. She was beautiful. He missed her.

Kelly held out her hand and let the mud slide from her hand to Jays.

Jay took the handful of earth and looked up at her, not knowing what to do with it.

She lifted her dirty hand to her face and slowly licked some mud from it.

Jay raised his hands to his face and took a deep breath of this soil, remembering how it felt and smelled. He tasted the mud, very aware of its texture in his mouth, and its deep, ancient taste.

He looked back up at Kelly. She was waving goodbye, then she turned and walked away. The image of Luangpu Pupan suddenly appeared and briefly stared at Jay. Then he turned and walked away, walking in the same steps Kelly was taking.

Kelly looked back one time and waved to Jay as she saw him sink into the water of the pond. She missed him.

Jay felt the water of the pond engulf him. It was covering his entire body. He was under the water. He coughed and choked on the fluid entering his lungs. His instinct was to jump up, and when he did, he saw the fading light of the sun, going behind the hills next to the pool and waterfall he was lying naked in.

He remembered Kelly, and still had an earthy taste in his mouth. He now felt a pain on his forehead so he put his hand to his brow. Blood was all over his hand that he was trying to focus on . He was a little dizzy, but felt OK. He lost a little blood to the pool that his tears had already mingled with. Now it had his life force too.

It was time to go. He crawled back down the waterfalls and found his clothes. He got dressed and walked back to find a monk sitting on a rock staring at him. "Did my master hit you on the head?" he asked.

CHAPTER 13 EVASION

Sekott was trying to outrun his pursuers, that frantic day that he was running for his life, but there was no way that this was going to happen. A tour bus in sight up ahead gave him one last desperate idea. Sekott pulled up along side the bus and waved frantically at the driver to stop. The driver looked at him like he was crazy and kept driving. Sekott kept flailing his arms and pointing at the bus door and pointing behind him. The bus driver asked his assistant next to him what he should do. The ticket taker shrugged his shoulders and said, "Crazy makseeda!" The bus driver rolled the bus to a slow stop.

Sekott wasted no time trying to pull the doors open and when the bus driver allowed the door to open, Sekott ran onto the bus, past the driver and his assistant and ran to the group of tourists.

"Help me please!" He begged, "There has been a big misunderstanding and there are people trying to hurt me." He surveyed the group of tourists and determined that some of them were European and American.

"They are communists and they have me mistaken for someone else. Please! Don't let these people take me off this bus!" The driver and his assistant had walked back and were yelling at Sekott in Laos, pointing at him and at the door. Sekott saw the men from the village had pulled up alongside the bus and were getting off their bikes.

"U-S-A! U-S-A!" Sekott started chanting, "God bless America! Home of the free! Don't let these communists take me!"

Sekott was trying to play a patriotic card and it was working. One of the American tourists stood up and began to speak to the driver who didn't understand anything he was saying.

"You have to let this man ride on the bus! He is in trouble and we should help him." The tourist pleaded with the driver.

His wife was checking her cell phone and the other tourists started to take out their electronic equipment. One tourist produced a video recorder and began recording this fiasco.

The village men were standing outside the bus talking, deciding what to do next. They saw the driver and Sekott inside the bus, waving their arms and pointing wildly. The pursuers also saw cameras and video recorders in the hands of the light skinned sight-seers, some of which were pointing at them.

The men chasing Sekott did not make any immediate effort to board the bus, but were motioning to the bus driver to come outside. Sekott approached the American man who seemed to be most sympathetic to be on his side.

"Please, sir! If you could please offer this man bus fare for me, he might let me stay on. I can make arrangements to pay you back triple. Please! I was mugged and tied and they are going to kill me, I am sure!"

"What did you do?" The man asked, wondering what this strange American citizen had gotten himself involved with. "Drugs? Prostitution? Why should I help you?"

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Sekott replied, "These men are communists and they hate our democracy. They hate our freedom. They are going to take their terrorist agenda out on me. Please!"

The man leaned over and asked his wife to give the frantic desperate citizen some money. Whatever this man did, he surely was being harassed by these terrorists. After all, if you're not joined with the American fight against terrorists, you are a terrorist yourself. She opened her purse and handed her husband two hundred thousand Laos Khip in two paper bank notes.

The American man took the two bills and handed them to the driver.

"Here! Take this bus fare for this man. This is surely enough to take him to the city."

The bus was heading to Savanakhet and the driver had extra seats. The man was offering him more than double the price of a ride, and he decided it would be best to take him to the authorities. The driver looked out the window at the men gathered by the bus, there were four men standing there wearing olive green army jackets and they looked like they were typical Laos farmers. The driver didn't open the door again. He gestured to the men outside and pointed down the road. The driver didn't know who to trust, and really didn't care, he had extra drinking money now.

He yelled out to them in Laos, "We are going to the city. You can talk to the officials there and sort out this problem." The men didn't hear him through the glass but got the idea that he was not going to force the man they were chasing off of the bus. The bus started to roll, stirring up dust around the men looking on.

The villagers that had been chasing Sekott decided to follow the bus at a distance. They did not want to talk to police officers or government officials. They called back to their village boss and let him know what was going on. He related this to Lamai, who suggested that she would go after him and have a better chance at catching up to him and avoiding public scrutiny. The elder agreed and got someone to take her to her motorbike.

Before she left, she spoke with Dang in Isaan language. "I don't think you know the man that you are married to. He wants to do harm to your son and your whole village. He doesn't understand people like us and wants to see us all killed."

"He loves me!" She argued, "He has never hurt me."

"Sekott is working with a foreign government to create a sickness that will hurt us all. He uses you and your son to test this disease on. Look at my face! He smashed my nose and knocked me out, and then he stabbed the old man of your village who now is maybe going to die. He can't be trusted!"

Lamai explained this, trying to keep to the fabricated story that she had told the rest of the village elders. "Just call me if you have any more contact with him, please! I am here to help you!" She smiled through her lying teeth.

She had only been interested in her own agenda, to extract information from Sekott, and then, kill him. She had more reasons for revenge now, like her smashed nose and throbbing head. She was shortly reacquainted with her motorbike, the keys still in it, on the side of the road where Sekott left it. How did he manage to slip away?

He had more balls than she gave him credit for. Lamai figured that she had another chance to catch up with him, if she could wait in Mukdahan at the border crossing in Thailand. She was sure he would try to cross back into Thailand, across the friendship bridge, over the Mekhong River. She could wait for him there, at immigration, unseen, and follow him after he got his passport stamped. The immigration line was always so chaotic that no one would notice her performing surveillance.

Lamai drove into Savanakhet on her motorbike and then immediately went to immigration. It was to her advantage that Thai people could cross the border rather quickly and very inexpensively. Sekott would have to procure some funds, and then fill out several forms at the immigration office and be approved before he could enter. She knew that he didn't have any ID or papers to prove who he was so he would have to verify all this at the consulate first. Lamai was sure that she had crossed before Sekott, and she found a place in the parking lot to stake out the entering farang visitors. All she had to do was wait. She would end up waiting a long time.

Sekott, thinking he may be in the clear, began to relax a little. The American man on the bus, his wife, and the other tourists, all wanted to know what was going on. The best story he could come up with was this, and he sold it to the curious listeners.

"I was volunteering at a clinic and living with my wife and son, in a smaller town east of here. One day when I was walking back to my motorbike, these men confronted me in the parking lot and began to push me down on the ground. I heard them saying, "Nak Suuep," which meant spy and I heard them saying in Laos, that they thought I had seen them smuggling drugs. They were going to take me somewhere, I don't know where, so I fought for my life and was able to get away on my motorbike, but they chased me all the way to where I saw this bus. I am so grateful for your help. I am not a spy! I am a scientist. I will make sure that you all get you a reward and a medal from our government for being such patriotic people." He said this all in a credible way and turned his gaze to the American man who paid for his bus fare.

"You poor dearie!" an older lady said, "I guess the good lord is looking out for you today." "Yes, praise be his name!" Sekott said, "You are all angels on this bus, thank you!"

And with that, Sekott began to take email addresses and contact info from everyone. He told them that he would contact them to get copies of the video footage and pictures. He took the address of the American couple who paid his salvation bus fare, repeating several times that he would reimburse them for everything. They told him that he didn't have to pay them back, and they gave him another hundred thousand Khip.

"God bless you! You are true patriotic Americans!" Sekott thanked.

When the bus arrived in Savanakhet, Laos, Sekott slipped away right away, wanting to avoid any Government agency. He didn't know who was in bed with whom, or who might be waiting to take him back to the village. He slipped away from everyone and got on a large two row bus heading north. He rode for two days and got to the touristy border city Vientienne, Laos, where he went to the US embassy and got a new passport.

He knew he wasn't safe in Laos anymore. The villagers would find him and he would not want to find out what would happen next. He couldn't help his son and his wife from there anymore, but he believed he could from Thailand. This seemed like his best move at the moment.

He wanted to cure his son more than anything. He still wanted to help his wife, but after the abduction he suffered in Laos, he felt like he should not trust anyone, including her, anymore. He had a newly growing disdain for Laos people. He had a true hatred growing for the people who called them selves the Pee Doot Lewat. He had no desire to cure them or offer them help anymore. A strong judgment and righteousness began to take root in Sekott's mind, about the different kinds of people living in the world.

He was able to have records from different places in America faxed to the embassy to verify his identity. He didn't have much money left on him from the American lady's gift. He certainly didn't have enough to cross back into Thailand, so he had to have funds transferred. It wasn't a problem obtaining the funds, but it cost him another day waiting in Laos. Sekott finally crossed back into Thailand, without incident from Lamai or from the Laos villagers who sought to confine him. He headed to somewhere that he knew he could blend in with a crowd of foreigners. He went to beachfront Pattaya.

¤

Lamai had watched and waited for hours, and then, when night came, she gave up and went to get a room. She went to a farang bar in Mukdahan and soon made friends with a drunken, fat man from Sweden. She took him back to her room after he was sufficiently medicated with alcohol and drugged with the sleeping and memory loss powders she carried. Lamai wasted her memory loss powder on him because he would have no memory of this night. In the hot air of her stale hotel room, she slit his throat and drank him dry of his fluids.

She was furious about being eluded by Sekott, so she took it out on this farang. She met later that night with a couple of Laos men, who agreed to throw a carcass in the Mekhong River, weighted with a sack of broken cement pieces. This only cost her five hundred baht. The men considered this a deal. Usually they had to kill someone and dispose of the body in order to get five hundred baht pay.

¤

On the ride back from the waterfall to Ajarn Santee's temple, Jay had a lot of time to reflect on the visions he experienced. It seemed that he had been walked through a series of layers of himself. He was shown his good and bad personality traits. He was shown his whole life, and then, I had an accident? No, it couldn't have been an accident. I was meant to be unconscious underwater and have a vision of Kelly. He knew that she was connected to the spirit world, even if she didn't believe it. What was she trying to show me? He wondered. What was the idea of eating mud trying to show me?

He talked at great length about everything with Ajarn Santee. The monk told him that his master had sent him there, and pulled him under water to see something. His master knew what he was doing, Ajarn Santee was sure. The monk's master was using the image of someone Jay knew, someone Jay trusted, to show something very important. The monk could not tell Jay what the purpose of the mud was, but that he should write down and draw every detail, and keep the memory fresh. The meaning would definitely become clear to Jay in the future, Ajarn Santee reinforced.

Jay made a resolve to not get back with Lamai. He told Ajarn Santee that the time he spent at the monastery had cleared his mind, and that he needed to get back to the things in his life that were the most important, his family and his friends. The monk agreed with Jay that this was best.

"Lamai is only one person," the monk told him. "You will meet many people in your life and one day you will find a good girl, one whose family does not try to kill you."

Jay laughed, thinking about the absurdity of how that sounded.

Back at the monastery, Ajarn Santee gave Jay a pendant with an image of the Buddha standing on a giant serpent, known as the Piyanah.

"This is a very old and holy piece from my master's temple," the monk told him. "This will protect you from those that would want to take something from you unwillingly. Always wear this, even at night, it will help you."

"Thank you Ajarn," Jay said. "I will try and talk to your master as often as I can."

Ajarn Santee knew that Jay would be leaving soon, and that he would need help, as he would undoubtedly come across selfish Pee Doot Lewat again. The monk asked his master to protect Jay, and keep him out of blood drinker's beds.

The next day, after returning from the waterfall, Jay told Ajarn Santee that he wanted to go back to the village again. He wanted to find a house and a job, and get back to working. He knew that he was best suited for teaching English there, so he wanted to find a high school to work at. Ajarn Santee told Jay that he was welcome to stay at the temple as long as he wanted. He also told Jay that it was up to him to decide what to do next. Ajarn Santee was well connected and respected within the community, and he told Jay that he could help him with his contacts and his contracts.

So, that day, the two seekers, who were an old monk and a middle aged philosopher, visited the schools in the area. Jay drove the monk's truck and Ajarn Santee told Jay a bit about the history of the area. One of the stories sounded like this:

"During the American Vietnam war, Laos was communist and Thailand was very non-communist. Isaan people were somewhat caught in the middle, being a mix of Laos and Thai. The worst situation to be in was being a Vietnamese person living in Thailand. The Thai army, police and politically motivated people, went on a campaign to eradicate all communists from Thailand. One particular nearby village, Dong Luang, had a high percentage of Vietnamese immigrants. These people had made a perilous flight out of Vietnam to escape persecution from everyone who was trying to kill them there. They had to cross Laos, which was full of communist soldiers and army battalions hiding out in caves, awaiting activation. To get across Laos was a remarkable feat in itself.

The next big obstacle, and it was very big, was the Mekhong River. This river was a mile wide and had extremely fast currents. The river was full of snakes and in some places, crocodiles. For an immigrant with no ID or passport, there was no way to cross the river legally, which could be done on the bridges in Savanakhet or Vientienne. These people had to swim, or hire a boat runner at a high price. There were families, old ladies and children, trying to cross this dangerous river on the backs of water buffaloes. Many drowned in the strong currents. Some died from snake bites, many more died from being shot by soldiers posted on the banks.

Those who did make it across, did not wander into welcoming arms, they had to hide out in the forest and survive on anything they could find. Dong Luang became a mountain hide out with a strong family structure working to keep everyone alive. When the war began, all Vietnamese people were considered communist, and were targeted. The Thai army surrounded the village of Dong Luang and set up an army base at the top of the mountain. Many people fled higher into the mountains and tried to survive, taking their chances in the wilderness. Those who were left in the town were slowly picked off, one by one, for being labeled the wrong thing at the wrong time.

The army didn't move in and enact a total massacre, rather, they laid a siege tactic on the town, and conducted early morning offensives to inflict casualties. The people of the town were pretty much fucked. With no supplies coming in and nothing to fight back with, they were just waiting for their end.

Then, one day in the 1970s, the queen of Thailand offered amnesty to all the people in Dong Luang of Vietnamese descent. She offered them citizenship, and a new Thai last name. With the implementation of this peace treaty, a large monument was built at the top of the mountain where the army base had been. The fighting stopped. Children crawled back out of tunnels. Farmers came down from the mountains and planted crops in the open again."

Jay took in the tell that was just presented to him and considered that he had been luck all of his life, not being pursued by soldiers or vigilantes. "I am not sure what to make of this." Jay replied.

"I'm telling you all of this Jay, so that you will understand about the prejudice that still exists here. The Thai people of the surrounding villages still think of Dong Luang people as lesser-status human beings." Ajarn Santee told Jay, "The local Isaan person will maybe tell you that Dong Luang is a bad place to be. I just want you to be aware of this social rift. When you meet professionals, such as teachers in the area, you will likely sense a prejudice towards Vietnamese and Laos people, and even towards farmers."

"Farmers?" Jay asked, "I thought that Isaan was all about farming."

"It is." said Ajarn Santee, "But those who don't have to get their feet and hands muddy, will look down their nose at those who do." Jay was saddened to think that generations had evaded persecution and death, only to meet more persecution on an unsanctioned level.

You will also find a lot of superstition with the local people here Jay," Ajarn Santee began, "This you will also find goes hand in hand with education. The village people are more steeped in superstition than the teachers for instance. They believe in the Pee Doot Lewat, and with good reason. They are real. But not everybody even knows about them.

The people also believe in many kids of ghosts. Ghosts that live underwater keep people from swimming much here. Ghosts who are evil spirits that have entered a body are called Pee bom, and are said to eat the filth of animals and humans. Someone who makes a commitment to Buddha and does not keep it is believed to be turned into one of these filth-eating ghosts.

So I want you to know that many of the people that you meet are a fearful people. You being an educated person not from here, should be immune to the fear of the dark, so use that to show people your strength."

"I feel like a stranger in a strange land." Jay commented. "I wonder what is in store for me next?"

By the end of the day, Jay had visited three schools and decided between two fo them as candidates for employment. Of the two high schools, the more popular one stood out more. It had better facilities, more students and better pay. After meeting with the head of the foreign language department, escorted by Ajarn Santee, Jay felt like he had found his next job. The teachers in the school seemed very pleased to meet him and were looking for a native English speaker for their English program.

With the globalization of business happening in the world, more and more areas in the world saw the benefits of being able to speak the language of business, which was Jay's native tongue, English. With many handshakes and smiles and poorly spoken English greetings, Jay was invited to teach at this school. Jay could not pronounce the name of the school, but learned it meant something like, we are smart and give love and live together.

The following day, Jay went back to the school to sign papers, make copies, shake hands, get giggled at by students and he heard the word farang and makseeda about a hundred times or more. The school gave Jay a Thai style house to live in for free if he wanted it. By western standards, it was not much of a gem, but by Thai village standards, it was pretty damn nice.

Jay decided to take the house and move in. He would have to get his belongings from Lamai, who he hadn't seen in a while. The thought of that seemed uncomfortable, but he knew it was inevitable. He would break off their relationship and collect his things, but he would not go alone. He would try to get some teachers and Ajarn Santee to accompany him, as an added measure of protection. He didn't know how Lamai was going to react to the idea.

Jay spent the rest of the day, setting up some things in his house, and then went out shopping. He purchased a new cell phone, some new clothes for school, and some cookware to set up a small kitchen. Jay loved eating the Thai and Isaan food, but he was also somewhat of a gourmet cook himself, so he thought he could share his talents with the other teachers in his department, as well as occasionally eat something that did not have fermented rotting fish in it.

Jay was able to get online at the school library, and he researched a contact number for the Poo Ying Palace. He called the number that was answered by Gunter, who was sounding angry because he just had to fire a couple of girls for enjoying too many free drinks. Gunter took Jay's number and said that he would pass it on to Tone and Money. Jay knew that it was about time that he got back in touch with his friends.

"Oh, and by ze way," Gunter said to Jay, "Some of za Oleg's thugs from across za street ver in mine bar, asking ze qvestions about jou. I told zem zat I hazen't saw you for a vile. Zat pissed zem off and zey demanded zat if I do see you, zat I let zem know right avay. Is I ver you, I vould stay cvear oz here vor now."

"OK, Thanks Gunter." Jay said, wondering what the hell that was all about.

¤

Lamai's sister Belle was on the phone with another Isaan person living in Bangkok. She was asking about where the farang bars were and the best places to get feeding tubes in Bangkok. Her friend told her about a place called Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy, that were known for attracting many farangs seeking sexy nightlife. They also learned of a place called Khao Sawn road, where many tourists visited, but it didn't have the density of go-go bars that other places contained. At this location, they were likely to find more families and group tours and younger backpackers going out for dinner and shopping, and especially the discos.

¤

Jay wrote Kelly an email while he was online at the school library:

~Kelly,

I am so sorry that I haven't talked to you in such a long time. I know that I am a total shit for blowing you off the way I did. I know that this is no excuse, but I just got caught up in the reality of this side of the world, and forgot about what was important to me on the other side. I want you to know that I have made a home here, and I am going to stay for a while. I don't know where that leaves us. I always want to be your friend, and if we ever live in the same area again, maybe we can have another try at us. I have seen you in my visions. You would not believe the crazy shit that happened to me over here so far. Maybe one day I will write a book about it. For now, please know that I think you are the best and I will never forget you. ~Jay

¤

Today, Lamai was in a Northeastern province in Thailand at an internet cafe looking at a computer screen. She was very good at speaking and listening, but was never up to speed with reading and writing in the English language. She was very intelligent, but as a rebel in high school, she never saw the point in listening to a boring Thai teacher teach a difficult language that none of her friends spoke. All of Lamai's English ability came from spending time with the farangs that she fucked and lived with and drank from. It was only later in her life that she saw the benefits of being multilingual. English equals more money.

But now, Lamai needed to write a letter, and she couldn't. So, she had a farang help her write it. She procured a farang named John at a local bar called the Football Pub. This farang, John, from America, was more than willing to oblige a little lady with a cute smile, and he left the bar long enough to go help her out, with the promise of some fun later on. John composed an email from Lamai's dictation, from an email address that Lamai created, farangJay@Thai.com

Dear Sir, I have been wondering why you wanted me to contact you. I still have your contact information. If you want to meet me, you can find me at a bar called the Football Pub in the town of Sakhon Nakhorn in the Isaan part of Thailand. I do not know who you are, so I will not give you my contact information now. I am always at this bar on Friday nights. ~Jay Michaels

With the letter composed, Lamai asked John to send it from his computer, and not to answer any replies that came for it. She said that she would like to know about any response that was emailed back, and if he would help her, she would keep him happy at night. John clicked send and Lamai's plan was activated. That night, John enjoyed some monumental sex from a professional prostitute, and slept soundly as Lamai drank blood from a small slit she made in his scrotum.

CHAPTER 14 ALBION

"Hold still," Notenet said to the water buffalo that he was holding onto by the reins attached to a ring in its nose, "It's OK. Relax old friend." As Notenet tried to placate the beast, Noi, his brother, searched the front leg of the beast for a big easy vein.

"OK, ready Net?" Noi asked as he prepared the needle.

"We're ready." Notenet said, and Noi quickly inserted the hypodermic feeding tube. The buffalo made only a small reactive movement, as if to shake off a fly. Noi released the stopper and began to fill a plastic bag. As the bag became full, he stopped the flow, interchanged bags and filled another. With two liters of fresh blood in a couple of to-go bags, the brothers walked back home in the dark.

At Notenet and Noi's house, Mer and Por, Biw, Damil and Aomsin were sitting on a straw mat on the floor. There was a large bamboo basket full of sticky rice in the center of them all, along with Chili sauce mixed with frog, boiled rice crabs, chopped pork laap, fish soup, and grilled chicken stuffed with lemon grass. Notenet and Noi sat down and joined their family for a plentiful dinner. Noi brought out the two bags of blood and poured them over the chopped pork laap and some of it into an empty bowl. Everyone began to grab sticky rice, roll it into balls, and dip it into all the bowls of food on the mat. The food with blood on it disappeared first.

This evening, in homes throughout the village, families were eating together, and sharing blood together. Some people ate the blood of buffaloes and pigs, while other families ate fattened leeches. The children would wade through flooded rice paddies and irrigation ditches, gathering leeches in a bucket to bring home for dinner. Damil and Aomsin would sometimes tell their younger cousin, Biw, to go walk through the muddy waters. When he came out, they would pick the leeches off his legs. It saved them some of the work of gathering them, and Biw was too young to know that he was being tricked.

If the leeches were not fat enough, they would be placed in a small pond, more like a puddle, and a buffalo would be tied and made to stand in the water. Later, the buffalo would be led out, and the leeches would be harvested from its legs. Leeches were a staple in the poor farmer's diet. It was the easiest way, and the least offensive of sins, involved with collecting blood to drink. Leeches could be eaten live by themselves like thin slimy raisins, or they could be mixed with chili and garlic and cilantro and lime juice, into a sort of blood-sucking ceviche.

The religious and superstitious villagers were compelled to be mindful, because of their religion. They did not want to incur negative karma, and possibly come back as an animal in the next life. By letting the leeches do the blood letting, they were avoiding the minor sin. To kill anything was against religious precepts, but some people had to be the ones to slaughter the chickens, ducks, pigs and cows.

Some times dogs and cats were eaten too, but only when there was nothing else available to eat. The person to do the slaughtering, usually the oldest son, would then be required to make an offering to the temple, to negate this bad karma. It was often a necessary sin to kill something in order to feed the family. The only way to truly not kill was to be a vegetarian, but this religious law had loosened up over the years because the Pee Doot Lewat could not exist on vegetative matter alone.

Strict religious philosophers would contend that killing a plant was also, killing. The most adamant followers of 'do not kill,' would only eat seeds, nuts and fruits that had already fallen from the stalk or tree. This was not practiced in this rural area though. Here, the villagers were discreet about their diet, if they were Lewat drinkers.

The villagers who were not of this genetic line, tolerated, but did not look favorably on the Pee Doot Lewat villagers. The non-blood-drinkers, when they slaughtered an animal for food, would give the animal blood, as an offering, to the temple. The monks would give this to the poor Pee Doot Lewat villagers who came to make merit at the temple. Through this cycling of nutrients, the normal life spanned people would make peace with their neighbors and feel a sense of security that they would not be attacked or drained.

The normal folk had many superstitions about their neighbors, and took precautions to keep themselves safe. Typically, by offering blood to the temple and by setting up small spirit houses on their property to ward off or trap any evil spirits, they felt that everything was going to be all right.

When a member of their family died, they kept the body at their house until it was to be cremated. They did not want any bad neighbors to come and try to feed on it, so the tradition was to create large wooden penises from tree trunks, paint them red, and place them by any entrance to their property. This was believed to keep evil spirits and evil neighbors away. They also kept the body locked up inside a decorative refrigerated coffin for three days before burning the remains.

In some villages, there were monks living at the temples, who were themselves, Pee Doot Lewat. Everyone in these villages made blood offerings at these temples, regardless of their lineage. The monks could never kill anything, so the blood was brought to them.

When Jay became aware of these proceedings, he was shocked at first, but came to see that this was a very tolerant nation of people. It was hard for him to understand how a monk could be a blood drinker, but it began to make sense to him when he stepped outside of his Western values and cultural differences.

Just like the lady-boys, the gay men and the Toms were not looked down on or persecuted. On the contrary, they were honored and even celebrated. The Pee Doot Lewat monks were not scorned either, they were tolerated and even revered, but it was something that people didn't talk about, because that would be rude.

Why does it seem wrong for a monk to drink blood? Jay asked himself this question. Isn't it better for a holy man to promote peace amongst the people, regardless of his diet, rather than stumble forward by mob rule or survival of the fittest? In nature, is a leech cursed for being itself? A mosquito? A bat? A tapeworm?

There were many cases of parasitic methods of feeding in the natural world. Many organisms rely on other organisms for their existence. The barnacle, the reymora shark sucker, round worms, pin worms, several species of fungi, ticks, lice, bot flies, fleas, the candiru vampiric fish, the vampire bat, the vampire finch, oxpecker birds, the Massai tribe of Africa, the mistletoe plant, the woodrose, the dodder plant, the pitcher plants and the Venus fly trap. These organisms are not evil. Through DNA, nature has created an organism to fill every possible niche. Which is more evil the organism seeking instinctual survival or the organism condemning other organisms for being different?

A person of the Pee Doot Lewat lineage can aspire to become a holy man just as much as anyone else. It is no different than a lesbian woman becoming a minister or a gay person becoming a priest. Our background does not dictate our future if we exercise free will. Jay could wrap his mind around these ideas.

A group of peaceful villagers, with different characteristics than what is considered mainstream, living sentient lives, and trying to promote non-violence, can hardly be labeled evil. Jay had been thinking long and hard about this. Some selfish individuals, seeking to take from others unknowingly, were the lost souls. Like Lamai.

Why couldn't she just tell me what she was? If only she was honest. I loved her, and I would have accepted her for whatever she was. I would have willingly fed her, I think. Would I be the host, to her parasitic diet? Or would our relationship be more symbiotic? She would benefit from my blood, I would benefit from her company. No one would be hurting the other one. We could have both had mutual benefit.

When he wasn't philosophizing about parasitic organisms, Jay was enjoying his new teaching job at the village government school. He had students from eleven to fifteen years old, about thirty to a class. This was a lot more manageable than the fifty-plus-sized classrooms that he taught in Pattaya. The younger students were more receptive to his lessons, while the older students were a lot more practiced at fucking off. Either way, Jay tried to give them knowledge, creativity and a piece of himself everyday.

Evening rolled around, and Jay explored the village on his bicycle that he borrowed from one of the friendlier Thai teachers. He did not have the funds to buy a new motorbike yet, so he enjoyed the exercise and the right to say that he was not addicted to the gasoline pump.

As Jay was pedaling around one evening, he heard some one yell, "Allo Mate!"

Jay stopped his bike and looked to his left to see a table full of farangs sitting in a small little bar with Christmas lights hanging everywhere.

"You must be the new falang teacher. Welcome mate, name's Sative."

"Hello." Jay said, "I hadn't noticed this place before."

"Well it's the first place you shoulda found. Bloody American, right?" asked Sative.

"Yeah," Jay replied.

"Ah another one from the fuckin septic tank. You blokes are trying to outnumber us here at the watering hole. Come on, meet the blokes. This here is Jock. The fat one is Big Steak and Neel over there is our neighborhood wanker." All three falangs offered Jay a hand shake and surveying glances.

"So now, that's two Brits, two Yanks and one Asshole Aussie." Sative said.

"Aw, Fawck off! you fucking fanny!" Neel said in defense of his homeland.

"You would like to fuck my fanny, you fucking homo." Sative countered.

"Friendly crowd here." Jay stated.

"Oh, we just bust each others balls all the time. No sympathy" Sative replied. "That's my motto, and this is my bar, the Albion. That's the name of my team and me hometown."

"Your soccer team?" Jay asked.

"No it ain't called bloody soccer. It's football! You use your feet, not like your bloody American sport where the Nancies all wear protective gear and play with their hands. One more 'soccer' out of you and your banned from this bar!" Sative said looking very serious, "Ah, just yankin yer chain. Sit down an ave a beer!"

Jay thought that was an excellent idea, and thus started his drinking career at the Albion bar. Jock and Jay were the Americans, or the ones referred to as the septic tank, as the Aussies like to say. Neel was the Aussie, from the master race, and Big Steak was Brit number two. As the night went on, and the beers went down, one more American, by the name of Jon, a South African by the name of Yanni, and a Scot by the name of William, all stopped by the bar to have a pint, or some suds, or whatever it was called in the country they were from. Jay was pleased to make some new friends, have long conversations, and not hear the word farang for a while.

As the drinking was going on, the girls who worked at the bar would sit with the customers, pour their beers, put ice in their glasses, and help themselves to any open bottle of beer. Jay was instantly infatuated with Ning, or maybe it was Ning's eyes.

"How are you?" Ning asked in her best English. "My name is?"

Jay realized that she was asking him the question, "My name's Jay. And yours, beautiful?"

Giggles...."Ning."....More giggles. "Excuse me please." And with that, she went into the back of the bar.

Jay also met Bang, Goy and Aon. They all looked to be about eighteen to twenty, Jay thought. " Are these girls, working girls?" Jay asked Sative.

"What? Did you think we just sold beer here?" Sative attacked. "It's like this mate. You buy the lady a drink. If the bus ain't coming, you can ask her if she wants to go for a short time. If she agrees, you pay my missus a bar-fine for taking a working girl away from the bar, and you negotiate an exchange with your companion. That Ning's a little hottie!"

"OK, I understand." Said Jay, "But what is this about a bus coming?"

"You are a newbie mate," Sative joked, "It means she's on the bloody rag! Literally!"

Jay enjoyed the evening and night with his international crew of drunken foreigners, and peddled his bike home drunk. That night as he lay down in his bed, protected with mosquito netting, he thought about Ning's eyes as he slipped into drunken snoring slumber, alone, with no one hold, or to drain his blood.

Jay found himself back at the bar the next evening. Most of the conversation at the Albion ended up being about girls, their look, their shape, their performance, their cost. The typical Farang in this bar was fifty plus, some sixty plus, some seventy, plus. These men were retired, had big beer bellies and a cute young Thai wives that they cheated on regularly. Jay was a bit jealous that these older men did better with the ladies, because they had more money, and they were fat, so they looked like they had money. There was an oriental irony about this.

"Allo Arsehole!" William greeted him.

"Suck my fanny!" Jay said, not really knowing what this really meant. He said it to practice his foreign dialects. It meant ass to some and cunt to others, depending on the continent you swear in. Jay didn't care, he thought it was the proper word choice for the volleying of insults that went on like a profane tennis match.

"Ay mate. Ave a beer? Of course you will." Sative said, "Hey Tits! Get Jay a beer over ere!" he called to his Thai wife, Moon, whose name meant something other than ass. Sative figured it meant soft tits. Moon pulled a cold bottle of Leo beer out of a large blue cooler filled with ice, stuck it in a beer condom and brought it over to Jay.

"Hello Jay, How are you?" Moon said, handing Jay the beer, "No glass, no ice, American sa-tyle, yeah? He He!"

"Thank you Moon," Jay said, eager to drink the cold lager goodness of his favorite Thai rice beer. This would be the first of several. Jay believed that the brewery deposited the very best tasting beer into the top of the bottle, because he was always so pleased with the first swallow of the evening.

"So, 'ows teachin the li'ool monsters goin?" Sative asked in his thick British accent.

"Always a joy," Jay said, "They're all little angels."

"Ow many of 'em are ya shaggin?" William asked with a smirk.

"None, I've been fuckin yer mum the whole time." Jay said as William stood up.

"Calm down fucker!" Jay said, "I'm just playing with ya!"

"Let's leave me mum outta this one, ya bloody Yank." William sat back down.

"Seriously though, I consider all of my students, untouchable."

"Too bad for you mate!" Sative said, "The guy you replaced had a good thing going on the side. He tapped the ones who wanted to get an easy A."

"I don't mean to sound pious, but that man is a pedophile." Jay declared.

"Oo said ee was a good bloke! HA ha ha!" Sative joked. The laughs never ended here.

"Well, I have a strong respect for these kids, and I'm not as old and desperate as you old fuckers." Jay came back. "But I will say this, If I could, I would take Opal's eyes, Amara's personality, Aew's mind, Aum's hair, Eve's smile, Prim's attitude, Pom Pam's outgoingness, Biw's dimple, Maew's braces, and put that all together on the sexy frame of a college student who was nineteen, then I would consider that fair game.

"Sounds like you want to play mister potato head! Ha Ha Ha !" Sative cajoled.

"I think every one of my student's are beautiful." Jay said, "And what I feel is a fatherly or uncle-like admiration of them. I can honestly say, there is no sexual tension."

"Excep' for da tenshun in yer bloody cock you fuckin bool shite!" William added his intellect.

"Here's to you guy's," Jay raised his bottle for a toast. "May favorite perverts at the bar!"

"That little Ning hottie has a thing for you Jay," Sative said with raised eyebrows. "She's been at the beauty parlor next door getting all dolled up for you. Ere she comes now,"

"Hello Jay!" Ning took the bar stool next to him and put her hand on his thigh, "How are you?" "Wow!" Jay said, mouth half open, "You look very beautiful tonight Ning."

"Thank you Jay." Ning said and slid her hand up Jay's thigh closer to his crotch.

"Did I ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?" Jay flirted, "Really, you're eyes are so beautiful that it kind of hurts to look at them."

"Ally Wah?" Ning asked, What the fuck? Moon translated for her, being fairly well spoken in English and only letting on half of what she knew.

"Oh, thank you Jay!" Ning said as she leaned over and gave him a sniff kiss. At this point, Jay was getting aroused, but something kicked in and told him to watch his drink at all times. He never set his bottle of beer down, and every beer after, he went and took it out of the cooler himself, opened it himself and held on to it tightly. He did not want to get sedated by Ning or Moon or who knows who.

As the beers went down, Ning moved her hand onto Jay's crotch which was bulging at the moment. She giggled and said "banana hard." He stared stupidly into her eyes, and she did have beautiful eyes, big, dark, languid portals into her soul. They were her finest feature for sure.

They say that you can't hide those lying eyes, but whoever said that didn't know about Thai girls, especially Ning. Ning was interested in only one thing, wealth and status. They were actually the same thing because status could only come with wealth. Jay was all caught up in her at the moment and was whispering spicy things into her ear when he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

"Hello, Jay." Lamai said.

Jay stared at Lamai and stood up. "Oh, hello, Lamai." Jay said in a tone as flat as a slate pool table.

She stared into his eyes with a cold, hard stare. Jay looked back defiantly, emotions starting to arise. The first thing he felt was adrenaline and the urge to grab her by the neck and slam her head into something solid, forgetting the latest peacefulness and non-violence that he had felt at the monastery.

Next he felt curiosity. What is she doing here? What did she do to me when we were together. He wanted answers. Then he felt complete animal magnetism and wanted to throw her down and fuck her right there in the street.

"Why didn't you call me, Jay?" She asked in a very bossy manner.

Jay paused, thinking about what would he say? I should choose my words carefully.

"Go fuck yourself!" Jay vomited the drunken reply, not so carefully thought out.

As soon as he finished his words, her hand came quickly across his cheek. He felt the heat rise in his face where she slapped him and felt the heat rise in his temper as his adrenaline was released. As he began to move towards her, but Sative put his hand on one shoulder and William on the other, preventing Jay from retaliating.

"Don't do it mate." Sative said, "It ain't worth it. A teacher can't go around bludgeoning tiny females in public. It looks bad on your resume."

"Fuck you Jay!" Lamai said and walked away. She took off on her motorbike, staring Jay down as she drove away.

Jay leaned over and spoke to his friends in drunken proverbial speech. "There's only two ways to handle a woman, and nobody knows what either one of them are!"

"I guess you know Lamai?" Sative stated.

"Do you know her?" Jay asked, wondering if Steve and everyone else in the bar had ever had sex with her.

"Lot's of people know Lamai." Steve pronounced, "She's a freelance hooker, preys on teachers for some reason. Maybe she fucks 'em for the free language lessons?"

"Are you OK darling?" Ning asked.

"Yeah baby, never mind." Jay replied, "Hey Sative, can you set me up with a bar fine and a home stay?"

"Happy days mate! Sure can." Steve answered, "Hey Tits, Let's help our friend make some, arrangements."

Moon and Ning disappeared into the back room for a little while and Sative smiled big at Jay. "You lucky dog!" Sative grinned, "Fuck 'er once for me, OK you jammy bastard? My missus won't let me play anymore. Better yet, how about if you get two blow jobs from her and then come back and give me one?" Jay

"Now that's a good fuckin friend that'll do that!" Jay said, "Too bad for you I don't love you that much!"

"So ere's the deal," Sative began. "You give me missus five hundred baht and that covers the bar fine and the room for an hour. It's an extra hundred if you want the room for the whole night. Typically, the girls get five hundred baht for a short time and a thousand for all night. As drunk as you seem, you're best bet is the short time. You don't want to spend a thousand baht to pass out and sleep with her, do ya?"

"No, good Idea!" said Jay, "Here's a fiver."

Jay handed Sative a five hundred baht note and Sative handed it to Moon when she came back. Ning was smiling but looking a little nervous.

"Are you OK Jay?" Moon asked.

"OK." Said Jay.

"Let's go." Ning said.

Jay stood up. Ning took his hand and they walked across the street to the resort with five bungalow rooms, mostly used by local teacher's to fuck their students. Jay looked back over his shoulder and saw Sative and William both giving him a thumbs up and a shit eating grin.

Jay and Ning were let into their room and Ning went straight into the bathroom and locked the door. Jay heard the water running. He laid back on the bed and stared at he ceiling, feeling that man excitement that comes when he knows that he is about to get some strange.

After about ten minutes Ning came out wearing a towel. She immediately turned off the lights. "No!" Jay protested, "I want to see you doll."

"I'm shy Jay." She said, and crawled onto the bed with him. Jay took his clothes off and Ning got under the covers and pulled them up to her neck revealing nothing. Jay ripped the blankets off of the bed, despite Ning's attempt to hold on to them. The sheet floated away and found its new home on the floor. Ning attempted to hide behind her hands. It didn't work.

Jay and Ning had a cross-cultural experience that night. It wasn't love, it was more a practical engagement. Every body needs something. Jay needed a friend, Ning needed a friend with money. It was a win-win situation.

CHAPTER 15 SET UP

Mr. Sekott sat at a dimly lit table in an even darker bar. He opened his laptop computer and began to compose an email reply.

-Mr. Michaels, could you please call me at the number I gave you to confirm that you will be there at the place you mentioned in Sakhon Nakhon. It is imperative that this meeting be clandestine. I have something very important to show you that can help many, many people. I will await further word from you, and then I will make arrangements to travel a considerable distance to meet with you. Regards, Mr. Sekott.

¤

The morning after a night not worth bragging about, Jay awoke in his own bed, alone. Hangover- slight. Bicycle- present and intact, wallet- still in possession, Thai money- mostly gone, memory- only glimpses. The sun was coming in through the slits above the window and painting orange bars of light on the wall. Jay loved mornings and figured this was going to be a good one, but he didn't know why.

That afternoon, Jay got a telephone call. "Hey, Mother, Fucker!" Came a familiar voice.

"Holy shit man! I am so glad to hear your voice," Jay said, "I guess Gunter gave you my number?"

"Yeah man! Where the fuck have you been?" Tone asked.

"It's a long story. You won't fucking believe it." Jay told his friend. "I am in very Northeastern Thailand in Nakhon Phanom Province."

"Naga Pha what?" Tone attempted.

"There is a small town called Nakuu, not far from the Mekhong River. I have a teaching job there. It's a small village area, but it's very chill and there is a cool little farang bar where a guy can get his gherkin gooey." Jay relayed, "You guys have to come out here and check out this part of the world."

"That's the fuckin shit bro!" Tone stated, "But why the fuck have you been invisible and silent?"

"Sorry man." Jay apologized, "I crashed my bike the last night that I saw you and I went from the hospital to Lamai's house to a mountain village, then to a monastery and now to here, where ever here is. I lost my phone and all the numbers in it. I had no way to contact anyone. And I was laid up for a while."

"Well it's good to fucking hear your voice, Bitch!" Tone belayed, "I will get up with Money and catch a bus out there this weekend. We have next week off for sports day at the school, so we can stay for a little while, but, the number one question I have for you, ........... are there gonna be bitches there?"

"We are gonna make moves and write history!" Jay boasted.

¤

Fat American John was talking to Lamai about his last email contact from a man called Sekott. He explained to her that the Mr. Sekott stated that he wanted a man called Jay to call him to confirm a visit. Lamai had to think about this one. How could she get Sekott and Jay in the same place? This is what Sekott wanted to happen, and this is what Lamai wanted to happen, but Lamai wanted Sekott to be kept in the dark about her, and Jay had to be kept in the dark about everything.

She wanted to kill Sekott badly, but she wanted him to reveal his plans first. She wanted to watch and listen to what Sekott was trying to reveal to Jay. She could have killed Sekott already, but, she felt that there was something about his actions that she needed to understand first. And she for sure never thought that she would develop some feelings for this man, Jay, in the process. She knew that she could be the fly on the wall once Jay and Sekott were together, but how was she going to bring the two men to the same place, she wondered?

"Ning!" She said, "That's how I can tie this all together! With that bitch I saw Jay with the other night!"

Lamai checked the local bars and restaurants until she talked to some one who knew where Ning was. She was on her mom's farm in a nearby village. Lamai took a ride to the farm and located Ning in a hammock in the shade.

"Hello, Sawasdee Kaaa." Lamai greeted.

"Hello." Ning replied.

Lamai did not know if Ning was a blood feeder or not. There was a sense, that most Pee Doot Lewat had, that would alert one to the presence of another. Lamai was not picking up anything from Ning. She wasn't sure so she thought it was best to approach her as a normal person.

"Ning, maybe you can help me." Lamai began, "I have an old friend who I haven't seen in a while and I need to give him his motorcycle back. Do you know a falang named Jay Michaels?"

Ning was suspicious. A man called Jay was her farang as far as she was concerned, and she didn't like sharing. She didn't want competition. She wanted his money for herself and her family. "Why do you think I know this falang?" Ning asked.

"I thought I saw you with him at the falang bar a few days ago." Lamai replied.

Ning remembered the slap on Jay's face, and remembered this girl now. Ning wasn't going to tell her shit. "I don't know." she said.

"I just want to get his phone number so I can tell him where to pick up his motorbike."

Lamai lied. Ning felt nervous. Lamai was evoking a charm to get Ning to speak freely and truthfully. She was pouring the idea into her to give up the phone number of Jay's from inside her own mind. Lamai had a very strong charisma, and with the power of suggestion and her dark arts ability, Ning was feeling compelled to share the information.

"I don't have his number." Ning stated with resolve, resisting Lamai's magical coercion.

Lamai was frustrated. This wasn't working fast enough for her.

"Would five hundred baht help you remember?" Lamai asked.

This was something Ning understood, money.

"Oh, maybe I can find it." Ning said as she took out her telephone and exclaimed, "Oh my god, I do have it." She held out her hand and Lamai placed a five hundred baht note in it. "Yes! Here it is. It's 084......."

Lamai easily persuaded farang John to email Sekott again. She gave him a blow job while he typed. The message said:

I will be at the Football pub Friday night. If you want to talk to me, this is your one chance. If I don't see you, then don't contact me again. I don't know you, so don't make demands of me. You have this one chance and then I will forget all about you. ~Jay

Lamai thought she would take a bold approach because Sekott would be desperate enough to take the bait. She had to get Jay there the same night. They will eventually both know they have been deceived, but they won't know by whom. And at that time, it won't matter, they will be talking about whatever Sekott intends to share. If she was right about his pushiness, this is how it would play out, and all she had to do was wait.

John had complained to Lamai about his balls hurting. She assured him that it was just from all the crazy, wild sex they were having. He believed her, of course. He was a stupid farang. Lamai drank blood from small incisions that she had made in his ball sack every night. She could easily explain the scar away to the stupid farang. She watched him type as she sucked his dick, and licked the wound on his balls.

After the oral sex email episode, Lamai began to summon the dark arts within her reach. She accessed dimensions that everyone lives in but are unaware of. She knew how to navigate and manipulate these planes of existence. She was invoking the power of pure sexual attraction, the power she used to originally get Jay's attention the first night he followed her. She drew this energy into her depths and let it cascade through her own blood and breath and nervous system. She was female beauty and magnetic chemical energy. She was undeniable.

She called Jay on the telephone and changed her tone to speak in the voice of a sexy young girl.

"Hello Jay?"

"Yes, this is Jay. Who is this?"

With words flowing like kisses, in a tone so seductive, the siren sang to the sailor.

"Jay, I see you around Nakuu, and I think you are so handsome. I really want to meet you, sooo bad. I know that I must know you, because you are the sexiest farang that I have ever seen. My name is Mae, and I want to see you, up close, personal, very close, I want to touch you."

These words came out like poetry, like a song that you hear and want to hear more. She was like an obsession where nothing else mattered. She was good at this, and Jay was easily fascinated by it.

"Mae? Where do I know you from?" He asked, very intrigued and a bit excited.

Farangs are so stupid and easy to charm.

"I saw you at the school and at the bar, I was too shy to say hello, but I can't stay away from you. Can you please come meet me? I know that you will be happy when you see me, I will dress very sexy for you."

Lamai sunk her claws in deeper. Jay was past intrigued and fully turned on now.

"OK!" He blurted out, "Where can I meet you?"

"Please meet me at the Football Pub bar in Sakhon Nakhon. I will be there Friday night. I will be wearing tight black shorts and a very thin shirt that you can see through. My thong is hot pink and wants to be peeled off!"

"I'll see you there!" was the only thing Jay could say. It was worth a try he thought.

"I will be thinking of you and touching myself Jay, Goodbye sexy man."

"Good bye Mae." Jay said.

Lamai smiled to herself. Stupid farang!

Jay had a hard on after that phone call and his mind could not stop replaying her voice in his mind. It was maybe the sexiest voice he had ever heard. It was sexier than Ning's eyes. This was going to be a good Friday for him he imagined.

Jay remembered that he had already made plans with his friends and he for sure was not going to ditch them, so he called Tone back and told him to meet up at Sakhon Nakhon at a place called the Football Pub. The posse was about to be reunited, and the sexy mystery voice was going to make its debut.

¤

Mr. Sekott read the email he just received and decided that it was now or never. He never got the confirming phone call he requested, but what the hell, he had to try. Sekott went to the local bus station and bought a ticket for Friday morning from Pattaya to Sakhon. As he walked out of the bus station, Tone and Money walked right past him, but they didn't notice the strange and easily distinguished professor. Sekott did not notice them either. They had all just purchased their tickets to Isaan. The three of them would all be on the same bus on the same day.

¤

Jay, feeling good, with friends coming to visit, and Mae, oh my god Mae, on the front of his mind, was on a natural high. He tried to imagine what Mae looked like, and he put a sexy face to her sexy voice. He pictured soft pink perfect lips and smooth perfect white teeth speaking every sexy syllable. He was again ready to try another fruitless search to find a partner in Siam, but he would likely settle for a pair of panties for a night.

Off to the Albion seemed like the best idea to Jay. It was a little earlier in the afternoon, and the bar was void of customers. Jay sat with Sative and nursed a cold Leo, but this time, the girl bringing him the beer had that look like she might not be a girl, which meant for sure that she was not.

She was sexy as hell from behind. She had nice rounded butt cheeks, tight blue jean shorts that covered very little, some curvaceous hips, a skinny waist, a tight slim stomach, long slender sexy legs, smooth skinny arms and dainty hands. This girl was hot as hell! Not much in the titty department going on, Jay thought, but that face! It is just a bit, off. Some katois, very few of them, could really appear one hundred percent female in the face, but most of them retained some kind of masculine essence which could be spotted or felt. This was harder to distinguish the more drunken you were.

"Hello." She/He said in a deep voice.

Yes, for sure, this one has balls, Jay thought.

"Hi." Jay replied.

"My name's Jane. I haven't seen you around here before."

"I'm new in town." Jay shared.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Jane wanted to know.

Jay, thinking strategically, "Uh, yes, her name is, Mae."

"Oh, too bad cutie!" Jane said as she stroked Jay under his chin with her fingers. Just then another katoi came out with a beer for Sative.

"Allo Tommy." Sative said as he smacked the lady-boy on the ass.

Tommy had very noticeable huge tits, and a squared off jaw and face that looked like a linebacker. She had long sexy hair and thick pouty lips painted red. From behind she looked like a linebacker with sexy hair and a cute ass, but her face gave him away instantly. Jay pondered how some boys kept trying really hard to look like ladies even though they weren't even very close to success.

Tommy spent the next half hour looking at her face in his mirror. He plucked at his eyebrows and painted skinny, high arching new ones on. She painted her lips with more glossy red lipstick, and applied copious amounts of powder to his face and neck. Jane flirted with Jay and Jay enjoyed the game. It was like, I know who you are, and you know you're not fooling me, but let's keep pretending anyhow. Something like that.

Jane was very sexy, more than Tommy for sure Jay thought. He thought he might as well make an assessment. From behind no one would ever know the gender. Jay wondered how sex worked with lady-boys. Do they ever do each other? What gets them off? Are they pitchers or catchers, or both? What is their game? Do they get off on fooling people? Do they get off on having men like them? Do they ever have sex with girls? Do they want to become girls? Are they already girls, trapped in the wrong gender this incarnation? Why are there so many of them here in Thailand?

"Ya mate, Ya gotta try some katoi lovin' sometime," Sative said, "Them blokes know how to suck a cock better than the ladies can."

"I guess you know this from experience." Jay returned.

"The best head I ever got in Thailand is resting in the mouth of that one right there." Steve pointed with his raised eyebrows in the direction of Tommy. "And Jane ain't far behind in the competition."

"I guess I will just have to imagine what it is like for now."

"If they look like ladies, it means you ain't gay, mate!" Sative educated Jay.

"I really like vagina though." Jay said, "I am a strict Vagitarian."

"One day you'll be too drunk to notice and you'll find out what I'm talking about." Sative assured his friend. "Hell mate, you may have shagged a dozen already and were too drunk to figure it out or give a shite!"

"I will stick to my feminine specs for now. But hey, do you know of a place in Sakhon named the Football Pub," Jay asked.

"Oh yeah, me good mate owns the bar," Sative said, "Excep' he's from frackin Liverpool, the bloody wanker! The bar is a place that a lot of local farangs hang out at. My mate cooks a big meal every Sunday, A roast or a ham, and sells it as a set plate dinner. It's one place around 'ere a bloke can get a real taste of 'om!"

"I am heading there Friday night. Wanna come along?" Jay asked.

"Love to mate, but gotta run the ship 'ere." Sative declined. "What takes you out to that neck of the woods?"

"I have a mystery date with a girl named Mae," Jay informed, "and my good friends are coming up from Pattaya. I'm going to bring them back here, so we will tear it up at your bar for a few nights. I would really like to hook them up with some ladies, so, if you got any one in mind?"

"We'll find 'em sumpin to stick their dicks in!" Sative assured. "Whether they ave pussies or not!"

The week passed by quickly and Jay found himself riding a bus to Sakohn Nakhon, wearing his favorite pants and shirt, hair gelled up and his best cologne was on thick. He felt a bit like a high school kid with this blind date coming up. He felt anxious and excited and giddy. He was also psyched to see Tone and Money again. He knew that they were going to tear it up wherever they met up. One thing for sure, if they weren't the best English teachers in the world, they were certainly skilled at having a good time.

Jay took the next available transportation into the city of Sakhon Nakhon. The bus rolled along, packed with riders, more than there were seats. At least ten people were standing in the center of the bus aisle. This local bus was not at all like the V.I.P. buses with the large spacious reclining seats that had seat numbers and were never overbooked. This standard local bus, packed on as many riders as they could possibly fit in it. Sometimes it also had chickens or pigs, basketfuls of vegetables, fruit or fish, and occasionally a motorbike. The windows were set down and one of the three overhead oscillating fans was actually working, to Jay's surprise. It was not the most pleasant bus ride he ever took, but Jay sat there smiling for the entire trip.

¤

Tone, Money, and Mr. Sekott, were all on the same V.I.P. bus, barreling down the highway at a very high speed. The common travelers were not aware of each other's presence, and they had no idea that they were going to the same place to see the same person, albeit for different reasons.

Tone was pumped to get out of the city and experience something new. He loved experience, any experience. It was all inspiration and future lyrics to him. Money was wondering what the girls were like in this part of the country, what they wore, what they smelled like, how they felt. Do they give massages like Pattaya girls can? Truth be told, most of the girls working in Pattaya were from Isaan. So, yes, he would find massages available and to his liking.

¤

Lamai rode her motorbike to Sakhon, taking side roads that she knew the bus routes did not follow. She was going to be as covert as possible. She had a few items with her this time in case she needed them. She had a gun, a couple of knives, handcuffs, some rope and some thin strong wire. She wondered if she would be killing anyone tonight. She would not kill Jay, but if the information that she got from Sekott satisfied her, it may be time to rid the world of at least one farang.

She also had a sedative powder made from a tree root with the side effects of short term memory loss. She had a pack of cigarettes, a jar of leeches and a vial of sodium pentathol. Her plan was to watch and listen to Sekott and Jay's interaction, and then she would wait for Sekott to be alone and catch him by surprise. She intended to place him in a special room for interrogation, where she would make him tell her everything that she wanted to know.

Jay arrived first and sat down at a table with a beer. Leo it was. He scanned the room for a girl he had never met. Mae, where are you? He wondered. The first beer went down rather quickly and tasted especially good, so he ordered another.

No one in the bar looked like a Mae or made any gestures towards him. He figured that she wasn't here yet. What does she look like? What does she smell like? What does she taste like? Jay was daydreaming about what she might be like, what she might be like in bed. Curly hair? Dyed hair? Dimples? Light skin? Dark skin? Eyes? Beautiful? Haunting? Alluring? Nasty? Kind? He tried to picture what her eyes might look like. He was very obsessed with this meeting, because he had been audibly charmed by the same powerful woman who charmed him in so many ways previously. He was not being cautious. He was not remembering what manipulating women were capable of.

The bus from Pattaya arrived at the bus station and the passengers disembarked. Tone and Money stood looking around, taking in the Isaan scenery. It seemed similar to Pattaya, but without farangs everywhere and it was smaller and poorer as well. Like every Thai bus station, there were a lot of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers standing nearby, ready to take you anywhere, and being quite pushy about being the one to do it. The competition was tight, so the more aggressive drivers would be asking you where you were going before you had both feet off the bus.

Tone said the words, "Foot-ball-pub!" And the drivers did not react or respond.

Money said "Fa-rang-bar?" And the driver shook his head up and down and motioned for them to get in. Sekott heard this exchange and he looked over because that was the bar he was trying to get to. When he looked over, he thought he recognized the farang that was speaking. Yes, I do recognize him. He remembered him as one of the people sitting with Jay the last time he saw him. Sekott wasn't understanding why this guy was here. He decided to stay back, out of sight. He would take a different tuk-tuk after this one left.

Tone and Money got out of the tuk-tuk and Jay saw them right away.

"Hey mother fuckers!" He yelled.

"Whasssuupp Mother Fucker!" Tone yelled back.

Jay got up and walked over, giving Tone a big bro hug and giving one to Money next. Tone gave a handshake with a finger snap and a palm slide. Money gave a knuckle to knuckle punch and blew it up with a hand explosion with spread fingers up in the air, and then a return to a fist-meets-fist again. The old, blow-it-up, bring-it-back greeting. Smiles, back slaps and middle fingers were exchanged with wide, teeth showing smiles.

"Man. It's good to see you guys!" Jay said, "How have you been? I missed you!"

"The big question is..." Tone began, "What the fuck happened to you?"

"Sit down, let's talk over Leos." Jay said.

"My man, my man! You still have your wits about you!" Money agreed.

The three amigos sat down at a table and motioned to a bar girl, who just happened to be sexy. When they were finished with the first round of flirting, they asked her to bring them beer Leos. They told her to take the ice bucket and the glasses away, and scored her ass as a nine as she walked away. Tone suggested it was only a seven. He had had some much finer ass he related. They drank their beers American style, which meant straight out the bottle. Beer on ice was as bad a sin as mixing weed with tobacco, Jay thought in his non-European brain.

"Let's hear your lame ass story, Mr. fuck your friends over." Tony insisted.

Jay looked around the bar one more time for any cute girl who might be Mae. Not seeing anyone looking in his direction, he brought his attention back to the table.

"OK, man, first I am sorry I lost touch, and it took me so long to find you again."

"Bitch!" Money added.

"The night I was drinking with you guys and Lamai, we were all pretty wasted." Jay said.

"Yeah, I don't remember much of that night," said Money.

"I barely remember shit!" threw in Tone.

"I ended up crashing my bike and I woke up in a hospital with a broken arm and road rash up the side of my leg. I didn't have my phone and I was stuck in a hospital bed on a morphine drip. I had Lamai get my things and contact the school for me, but I never heard from them again. I'm not sure if she ever did talk to the school. But anyway, after I got out of the hospital, she took care of me at her house. She was real sweet to me at the time..."

"Where is that evil bitch now?" Tone asked.

Lamai sneered from her hiding place inside the bar.

"So this is the part that is going to blow your mind." Jay began again. "Lamai and I moved to Isaan, and we stayed in a little village with her and her family. It turns out that her sisters, and I am pretty sure she as well, are some kind of blood drinking human parasites, called Pee Doot Lewat. It means literally, ghost-suck-blood."

"I don't know about all that shit," Tone stated, "but I think we are all Pee Doot Leo! Ghost suck beer! Hah! Bitches!"

"You know all women are like that, Jay. What's the mind blowing news about that?" Money said.

"No!" Jay said, "I mean they drink human and animal blood! They need it to survive!"

Lamai was tucked into a back room of the bar behind a cloth curtain. She watched as Jay unfolded this story to his friends. What are they doing here? How are they involved with Sekott?

Lamai used her dark arts to enhance her hearing and she could understand everything that was being said at the table, even though it was far away from her. She heard a noise outside that got her attention and through the window, she saw a tuk-tuk stop and Sekott get out. OK, now what is going to happen next? Here is where it gets interesting!

Sekott walked into the bar, aware of Jay and his companions sitting together, so he took a table at the other side of the bar and watched what was going on. Why does Jay have these guys here with him? If he is here to see me, why isn't he alone? Is Jay wise to my plan to infect him? Sekott's mind went off into paranoid scenarios and he felt extremely uneasy as he felt his pocket for something. He felt a case that contained a tube full of his own infected blood with a needle screwed onto it, ready to inject someone named Jay Sekott. He tried to be inconspicuous and stay out of view but he kept Jay within sight. Sekott finally had his chance to have a conversation with Daniel Michaels' brother, if he could get Jay to ditch his companions.

Lamai bit her lip seeing Sekott, feeling her anger rise. She took out her mobile phone.

"So you are telling me that Lamai and her sisters are like, Dracula's inbred cousins?" Tone asked playing down Jay's tall tale.

"No, I am serious!" Jay insisted, "There is a group of people here that drink blood, live a long time and regenerate quickly. I have a monk friend who gave me the inside scoop on what goes on around here. But what is so fucked up, one night while I was sleeping I guess, or drugged or something like that, Lamai's sisters drained blood from me. They took so much that I think I died for a short while. But I was brought back to life after I had these crazy visions and then my monk friend took care of me and I lived at his monastery while I healed from the crash and the loss of blood."

Tone looked at Money and Money at Tone. "I wanna smoke whatever this mother fucker is rollin! Can you believe him?" Tone asked.

"Man, if you ain't high, you is tripping on some of dem buffalo shit mushrooms." suggested Money.

"I know this sounds fucked up, but think about it." Jay said. "How many times have you woke up the next day, not remembering anything and maybe having a strange scar somewhere on your body or way too many mosquito bites?"

"Everyday!" Added Tone.

"Yeah man. It's called a drunken blackout in a third world jungle." Money said.

"No man! For real! First they employ this soul sucking, sniff kiss technique to gets you even drunker than you already are. Then what they do is drug you to keep you asleep and you will not remember anything when you wake up. During the time you're knocked out, they drain your blood with needles or with leeches and feast on it. This monk friend of mine gave me a lot of information about how these people operate and feed and cover their tracks. I know it sounds crazy, I know, but it's true!"

"Yes, it's true." Sekott said as he suddenly appeared and sat down at their table, uninvited.

"Oh shit! It's this guy again?" Tone exclaimed.

"What the...." Money shook his head perplexed.

Jay looked at Sekott, shocked, but thinking about what he just said. What is this strange person doing here? Why is he confirming my words? How did he get hereall the way from...?

"It's true. I know about people who are like this and I have lived with them also." Sekott said.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Tone demanded.

"I got your email Jay, and came as you requested." Sekott said to Jay in his defense.

"What email?"Jay said. "I never contacted you. I don't know who the fuck you are!"

"Jay, did you invite this guy here?" Money asked.

"No!" Jay insisted.

"Are you claiming that you didn't email me?" Sekott asked. "I replied back to you from the email you sent me!"

"I didn't send you anything!" Jay said again. "What email? Why would I contact you?"

"Dude, this is some fuckin weird shit going on!" Tone added.

Jay was extremely confused, but he wanted to know how Sekott knew about the Pee Doot Lewat, and most of all, why had this strange man appeared to him three times now.

"You will all know about what is going on soon enough." Lamai said, walking towards them with a three-fifty-seven caliber hand gun pointed at them at face level. Somebody closed the bar door and locked it, and five Thai men started walking towards the table full of confused people.

CHAPTER 16 MONEY

Tone had a look of annoyed desperation on his face. "What the fuck is this shit Jay!"

Money was quiet and starting to sweat. He did not do well with bullets piercing his skin.

Sekott didn't flinch, almost as if he expected something like this to be happening right now.

Jay surveyed the situation that was unfolding very quickly around him, and went from happy to confused and fearful.

Lamai had a hand gun pointed in the general direction of the foreheads of all of the people at table. She was not pointing it directly at any one person. There were five men in the bar with guns also. The three reunited friends and the one stranger knew that this was not a joke or a prank someone was playing.

One man had locked the door and moved toward the bar, keeping the bar owner in check with his aggressive gestures. The bar owner, a Brit in his late fifties, was looking very nervous with his hands in the air. One of the men was moving towards the entrance to the back room of the bar. The other three men were moving towards the table of guests, the only guests that this bar had at the moment.

"Man, I don't know who fucked whose wife or what, but I didn't sign up for this shit!" Tone said standing up, and used a slight hip hop dance move to take one step away from the table, and gave a two spread fingers up salute. "I'm out."

"Please sit down Mr. Tone." Lamai said, pointing the gun at Tone's head. Jay put his hand on Tone's arm and offered a gesture relating, chill out, but it's going to be OK.

"Mr. Wenshire," Lamai addressed the bar owner without turning around. "I apologize for this inconvenience. We will leave your bar and not return, unless, you call the police. If you do, you will receive more visits that you will not enjoy. Am I understood?"

"Y-yeah." The bar owner managed to say one word. He felt his heart pounding and was afraid he might suffer a heart attack right there and now. Being overweight by thirty five pounds, having been a heavy drinker most of his life, and having the threat of lead in him, was just about enough to do him in.

"Alright boys." Lamai said, "We are going to take a walk and then have a discussion. You will stand up and put your hands on your head where I can see them, then you will walk towards the front door. You will follow the man in the red shirt. If you do anything besides this, I will put a bullet in your skull. If you cooperate, you will all go home tonight. Understand? Now, get up!"

The man wearing the red shirt unlocked the front door, took one step outside and scanned the street. He looked back at Lamai and nodded in a vertical gesture. The farangs at the table all stood up and placed their hands on their heads. Tone gave Jay a very dirty look, as if to say, "Thanks for nothin muther fucker!"

The men obligingly followed in the direction of the man in the red shirt. The other four men, with Lamai in the center of them, got in line behind their captives. They all walked out the front door one at a time, made a right and walked down a dimly lit alley. Lamai stared hard into the eyes of Mr. Wenshire, and nodded as if to say, it's over now. You will live another day.

The single-file procession walked down the dim alley in a straight line. The members were intently focused on either maintaining apparent submission or maintaining temporary dominance. Tone was in front, Jay was next, with Money following. Sekott was the at the back of the marching captives. They were led to a dark building and the rear assailant moved to the front of the procession to open a steel door on an old block building. The whole time this parade was moving, five guns were trained on the four captives and the lead man glanced back every couple of seconds to confirm everyone's position. Lamai walked nonchalantly with an air of power, occasionally surveying their perimeter surroundings. This entire aggressive event had the feel of a well trained military operation. Lamai didn't want any screw ups, and she had enlisted some professional help.

As they were guided into the dark building, the butt of a gun handle came down hard on Tone and Money's heads, knocking them both unconscious. Two of the men dragged their limp bodies into a room somewhere on the first floor where they were left in a heap on the floor.

Sekott and Jay were led up a flight of stairs and into a room where there were two wooden chairs and one dangling florescent light tube hanging from the ceiling in a dirty tangle of spider webs. Sekott was pushed into one of the chairs and Jay into the other. The men tied their hands behind them and tied their feet to the chair legs.

The only person speaking was Lamai, who was calling out orders to the men in Thai and they silently did as she asked. Lamai had to change her plans when she saw how many people she was dealing with at the bar. Instead of just pushover Jay and socially stupid Sekott, she saw that she had a small posse before her and didn't want to tackle them alone.

Lamai had called in a favor from a gang boss in the city of Sakhon. He instantly sent five thugs to her aid when she telephoned him. Lamai had provided this boss with drugs, fake liquor and slaves in the past. He was not just a gang leader, he was one of the higher-up men in the police department and he sent some soldiers that would silently obey. He was obliged to help her out, and he knew he would get some free ladies from this transaction.

When the two men were done tying Sekott and Jay, they left the room and closed the door. Jay and Sekott were facing each other from across the dirty room. Lamai walked over to Jay, sat on his lap and kissed him on the lips. Jay resisted at first, but feeling weak, he relented and kissed back, feeling like a fool, but enjoying this connection, if only for a moment. All of the emotions he ever felt for her came flooding back and he became lost in this moment, kissing her with enveloping passion.

Lamai pulled away, looked at him in the eyes and then slapped him across the face with aggressive force.

"Fucking bitch? Is that all you had to say to me after everything?" Lamai yelled at Jay with obvious anger in her eyes. Jay was silent, feeling the skin on his cheek tingle as blood rose to its surface.

Lamai then walked over to Sekott, and slapped him across the face, knocking his glasses off. She sat on his lap and kissed him passionately but grudgingly. Sekott did not return any action or emotion, only allowing her to do what she wanted to. As Lamai finished kissing him, Jay watched feeling jealousy arise even though he knew it was pointless.

When Lamai was on top of Sekott, she felt something in his pocket and reached her hand in to see what he was carrying. She extracted a medical case and opened it to see a tube full of blood and a collection of hypodermic needles.

"What's this Sekott?" she asked, "Are you saving this for your tests?"

Sekott remained silent.

"OK," Lamai said, "let's start this show. I contacted you, Sekott, with Jay's name to bring you here. The reason I brought you here is because I want to find out what your business with Jay is, and what you are up to with all of your secret experiments. And Jay, my love!" She said giving him a sweet but fake stare. "I know you are anxious to see your admirer, Mae..." Lamai looked into his eyes, turning on her glamour and changing her voice...

...."I saw you at the school and at the bar, I was too shy to say hello, but I can't stay away. Can you please come meet me? I know that you will be happy when you see me, I will dress very sexy for you." Jay heard Mae's voice while he was staring at Lamai speak the words, completely feeling the sting of stupidity for being the fool again, thanks to his dick.

"You are so cute Jay," Lamai said, looking as a mother does towards her child, "I think I really do love you." She said smiling and gently laughing. "Yeah right!"

"What do you want from me?" Jay asked, flat and cold, trying not to reveal any emotion. But inside he was scared, pissed, hopeful, jealous, confused and deflated all at once.

"I'm not sure yet what I am going to do with you Jay." Lamai said waving her gun above her head. "I needed you here in order to get information out of Mr. Sekott. He is the only reason I ever met you Jay. I have a bone to pick with Mr. Sekott, and soon you will have outlived your usefulness. Did you really think that I was deeply in love with you? Farangs are so stupid, and you are right up there on the stupid scale, Jay! It would have been easy enough with just to deal with the two of you, but because you brought an entire entourage, I had to bring in some muscle to help me contain this crowd. Now maybe I will kill your friends too."

"Please don't hurt my friends!" Jay pleaded, "They haven't done anything but come to have a drink with me. Why are you fucking with us like this? Is what I said to you really that important that you want to do all this? I don't know who this other guy is or why he wanted to talk to me. "

Lamai walked over to Mr. Sekott, sat down on his lap and tuned back to face Jay.

"This man, is a scientist, I know that much." she said, "What he is up to, well, that's what I want to find out. Why do you want to talk to Jay, Mr. Sekott, lover?" Mr. Sekott stayed emotionless, silent and unflinching. Lamai smacked him across the face, with no response. She smacked him a second time. No words came from Sekott's mouth.

Lamai took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. Jay didn't ever see her smoke before. She took a deep drag, then blew smoke into Sekott's face and looked delighted. She took the cigarette from her lips and pushed the glowing end into Sekott's arm. Sekott reacted by throwing his body weight backwards, which would have flipped the chair over backwards, but Lamai's counter action of putting her foot on the chair by his nuts and balancing him kept him upright. He tried to pull away from the burning pain but could not, and he moaned as his flesh seared. Lamai continued to push the cigarette into his arm, by his elbow, until it was extinguished.

"You drugged me, smashed my nose, stole my bike, kept me waiting in Mukdahan, and made me look like a fool more than once." Lamai said walking in circles around him, keeping her gun pointed at his head. "I think I have some payback coming."

Lamai came in close and put the gun barrel up against the opening of Sekott's nostril.

"Why do you want to talk to the man in this room?" She asked calmly. Sekott spoke,

"I wa-wa-wanted him to help me get better at scoring wi-wi-with th-the ladies." He stuttered as he mocked her, fearful but defiant.

Lamai brought the butt of the gun down on the top of his head, but not hard enough to knock him out. Sekott winced from the pain.

"Mr. Sekott," Lamai spoke, "I think if you continue in this manner you will suffer a lot tonight." Lamai took a knife from her bag. She let the tip of the knife rest on Sekott's cheek, just below his eye, and pushed gently, just enough to draw a single drop of blood. She was very turned on when she saw this blood, she couldn't control herself. She lifted the blade and licked it slowly, seductively. Jay watched as she did this and wondered how many times she had fed from his own blood. How many times has she fed from Sekott? How do they know each other?

Lamai pushed the knife against his cheek again after licking it clean.

"Tell me Sekott, What the fuck do you want from Jay? What are you up to!" She said this in a very pissed off voice. "You are more than some random farang here to get his rocks off. You have some idea about hurting me I think."

"Fuck you!" he said, with resolve not to tell her anything.

"Fuck me?" She asked, "Yes that is what you have done, isn't it? Well, we will see who fucks who tonight."

Lamai reached in her bag and took out a jar with something black and shiny in it. She opened the jar and pulled out a single wriggling leech. She placed this creature on the wound under Sekott's eye and it instantly attached itself to the open wound. Sekott could not see well with his glasses gone, but his eye was very aware of something dark very near to it.

Lamai took out leeches, one by one, and placed them on Sekott's face. He shook his head punishingly but once the leeches were attached, they couldn't be flung off. Sekott closed his eyes and his mouth tightly, as twenty or more leeches sucked on his face. There was not much pain from the bites, but the sensation of wriggling creatures on his face was very unnerving. One by one, as the leeches fattened and tried to crawl away, Lamai picked them off and chewed them up.

"Would you like one Jay?" She paused from snacking and held one out in Jay's direction. "I know that you have a hunger in you somewhere. Surely you must desire satisfying blood for your new body?"

Jay was confused by these words. Did she do something to make me like her? Am I going to change and want blood? What the fuck is going on? What does she want from this guy? What does this guy have to do with me? What does she want from me? Where are Tone and Money? This was looking like such a good day, but now....

"I am not hungry Lamai." Jay said, "Would you please just let us go!"

"Ha! Really Jay?" She asked, "I haven't found out shit yet! This mother fucker is going to tell me what he wants from you, and I am not going to fuck around any more."

She turned around and pushed her gun barrel into Sekott's dick. "Tell me what the fuck you want to talk to Jay about! I really want to know!" Lamai thought of herself as very clever and in control. It was really starting to eat at her that she didn't know what the big secret was here.

Blood dripped down Sekott's face from all of the leech bite wounds. Blood ran into his eyes and his mouth, and on down his neck. He looked at her defiantly and kept his mouth shut. He knew she wanted to know about the cure he was working on, so she probably wouldn't kill him until she found out.

"Tell me!" She screamed, "Or I'll blow your fucking balls off!" Sekott closed his eyes and prayed to god. Please lord, deliver me from this evil and protect me from harm, in your holy name!

"Fuck you, you fucking prick!" Lamai said as she put her gun down and took out a needle kit, screwed it onto a tube and pierced a vial of sodium penethol. She filled the syringe full of truth serum, and then forcefully injected this into Sekott's arm, emptying all of the viscous fluid into his subcutaneous layers. Then she pulled up a chair, sat on it backwards and rested her arms on the chair back, staring at Mr. Sekott. "Let's give you a moment to think about what you are going to tell me!"

¤

Money and Tone were both awake now with serious headaches. They were in a dark room and they felt their way around quietly with their hands. Money found a door and slowly tested the knob. The door was locked and would not open. They whispered to each other, not wanting to alert anyone that they were awake.

"There's a door on the wall behind me." Money whispered.

"I can't feel any windows on any of the walls." Tone whispered back. "There isn't anything in this room but some trash on the floor."

"There's a light switch, but I didn't try it." Money said. "What the fuck are we going to do?" "What the fuck are they going to do with us?" Tone whispered.

"I don't know," Money said, "But we gotta get the fuck out of here and find Jay!"

"Fuckin' Jay!" Tone said, "He throws a shitty ass reunion party!"

"I have an idea," Money said, "Do you have any coins in your pocket?"

"Yeah, I think so," Tone said. He reached in his pocket and produced two five bought coins and two one baht coins. "Sip song baht." He said quietly. "Are you gonna buy our way outta here with twelve baht?"

"No fucker!" Money exasperated, "Give me a single baht coin."

Money used the coin like a screwdriver and began to disassemble the light switch by unscrewing it from the wall.

¤

"OK, Mr. Sekott!" Lamai pushed the gun into his temple, "I am going to ask you a question, and you are going to give me an answer."

Sekott's head was swimming as the drugs overtook his motor functions. His head bobbed and swung as if he was in a dream world.

"What experiments were you doing in Laos?" Lamai asked slowly and with clear pronunciation.

Sekott felt compelled to answer. He spoke in slurred speech, "I am chrying to invent a cure for my shun."

"What is wrong with your son?" Lamai asked but she already knew the answer. He was half blood, and half bloods didn't live long. She wanted to test the effectiveness of this drug, to see if the answer would match what she already knew.

"My shon izh dying, hish blood izh not pure, he izh half Bee toot Looet." Sekott volunteered again as if he was speaking up through a well.

"Why do you want to talk to Jay?" Lamai's third question was asked.

"I want him to get hizh bruffer to help me infent the cure." Sekott said panting heavily, his head drooping down onto his chest. Lamai grabbed him by the hair and held his head upright.

"Why do you have a tube of blood in your pocket today?"

"I wazh going to injeck Jay wiff it. If he is shick he will get hizh bruffer to infent a cure for me."

Lamai smiled at this idea. It was very devious of Mr. Sekott. She realized that he was capable of being cleverly deceptive and cruel, much like herself. She admired that in a way. The irony of this is that she had already introduced her blood into Jay. Jay already had a reason to get a cure that could save himself, but she didn't think Jay knew that yet.

"What will you do with the cure?" Lamai asked.

"I will heal my shon, my wife, my shelf, and every brud drinker I shee." Mr. Sekott forced his words out.

Lamai thought about the implications of this. She pictured a class war arising if normal people could eradicate the Pee Doot Lewat. The two species existed in harmony for the most part for over two thousand years, but if Mr. Sekott were successful in inventing a cure, and if the cure was capable of debilitating the Pee Doot Lewat....? What if Sekott's poison fell into the hands of governments or money-men or foreign powers instead of farmers, my kind would be greatly threatened.

"What would this cure do, if you injected a Pee Doot Lewat with it?" was Lamai's next question.

Mr. Sekott spoke, "It shood kill dem. That ish how to cure dem."

When Lamai was a child, she remembered the soldiers attacking her village. She remembered mornings, waking up to gun shots from automatic weapons and running into underground hiding places with her sisters and brother and friends. She remembers being a scared little girl and starving for blood. She remembers her mother offering her own blood in that dark hole in the ground, to keep the kids alive.

They tried to kill her then, and now Sekott wants to do it again. Lamai had learned later that the American FBI and CIA were experimenting on prisoners back then. They tortured people, testing them to see who was Pee Doot Lewat and who was not. The powers behind the war knew about the blood drinkers, and tried to find a way to kill them, not because they were a strong military threat, but because they were an annoyance much like a mosquito that could spread sickness.

The foreign government forces tested various biological agents, including a strain of AIDS that was supposed to kill blood drinkers. The outcome was not what they had hoped for. The Pee Doot Lewat actually became stronger physically and more resistant to viral attacks. The biological warfare only managed to kill off the weakest traits in the blood line, and the children born after that had even stronger regenerative and resistive qualities. It was similar to what happens to a person's infection if they stop taking antibiotics too soon. AIDS became more prevalent amongst the normal people in Southeast Asia, but the American powers saw this as a bonus side effect. Now with Sekott trying to create this again, there was no telling what would happen if he shared this knowledge with the military powers with an interest in the area.

¤

"OK, Tone," Money said, I need you to piss on the bottom of this door."

"What the fuck homey?" Tone whispered back.

"Listen to me," Money explained, "I have taken the light switch apart. It's hot. It still has electrical current. I found a coat hanger that I stretched out like a wire and connected it to the door knob and the other end is on the live circuit. Your urine will make a puddle and I will paint it up to the other wire. When this is complete, we start yelling and making noise. When anyone grabs that handle, and is standing in a puddle of your piss, they will complete this circuit and the shock should knock them out or knock them back. This is the one chance we have to escape. As soon as he closes the circuit with his body, we will both shoulder this door open, grab any guns or weapons we can find, and shoot our way out of here!"

"Holy fucking shit, MacGuiver!" Tone exclaimed, "How the fuck did you come up with that?"

"I saw it in a movie." Money explained, "I hope it works!"

"I guess it's better than waiting around for some bitch to shoot us!" Tone said, "What are we going to do about Jay and who ever that weird guy was?"

"We will just have to find Jay after we get out of this room. I could give a fuck less about that other dude. Can you shoot a gun?"

"I used to play grand theft auto like a mother fucker!" Tone explained.

"That's just great! Can you use a base ball bat?" Money asked.

"I can beat some fucker's head in for sure!" Tone declared.

"OK!" Money said with hope, "Let's try this. When we get out, we grab anything that can be a weapon, we yell for Jay and try to figure out where he is, then we get him and head out the door we came in through. Now, start pissing."

Tone pissed on the door and was glad that he had drank a few beers on the bus. They didn't get to do much drinking at the bar, before the party crashers showed up. A puddle leaked out under it which they could see in a dim light. Somewhere on the other side of that door there was a light on. The floor was cement and not wood, so Money discerned that they should be on the ground floor and not on a second floor.

"OK," Money said. "Start yelling and be ready with your shoulder."

As Tone and Money started yelling loudly and continually, they did attract the attention of one of the goons who came to investigate what the noise was all about. As they thought, he grabbed the door knob. There were sparks and they heard him scream, followed by a thud as he hit the floor.

The body weight of skinny Tone and stout Money was just enough to break the door bolt. The door burst open and they stumbled through the opening after slamming all of their body weight into it. Money found a gun in the chest holster of the man on the ground who just had a shocking experience and Tone found a knife hanging on his belt and brass knuckles in his pocket. Two more men came running down a dark hallway towards them.

Lamai thought she heard something and looked towards the door. "I think it's time for you to bare your soul, Sekott." She put her gun to Sekott's head and looked at Jay. "If you do what I say, you will live. If you don't, I will feast on the remainder of your blood tonight." She licked her lips.

Money ducked down low and fired two shots. Two bodies dropped. Tone threw the brass knuckles at the fallen bodies, bouncing them off of the stomach of one of the sprawling men. "Nice work, Tone!" Money said.

"Jay! Jay!" Tone yelled loud as fuck.

Lamai, shocked by the gun shots walked quickly over to the door and opened it to peer out guardedly. She was wondering if those thugs were killing Jay's friends. Those idiots! She thought.

"What the fuck is going on down there?" Lamai shouted down the hallway.

Mr Sekott answered by shouting back, "I don't know!" He was still drugged and responding to any question.

Tone and Money heard these voices and ran up the stairs. Another thug followed right behind them. Lamai stood in the doorway looking at Sekott and Jay, and then down the hallway. She heard people approaching, but she couldn't see who. The abandoned building was very dark.

Sekott kept yelling very loudly "I don't know! I don't know!"
Tone had a wooden stair spindle that he ripped free on the way up the steps and Money came charging with desperate and decisive power.

Lamai yelled at Sekott, "Shut the fuck up!" As she said this, Money blind sided her and knocked her flying. She couldn't see him coming in the dark and she was distracted by the babbling Mr. Sekott. She dropped her gun and Money was able to train a gun on her. Tone ran over and cut Jay free.

"Cut Sekott loose!" Jay said to Tone.

"This lame ass mother fucker, how about I beat his ass with this stick?" Tone questioned as he gestured with a downward swinging motion.

"I need his help!" Jay said and then grabbed Lamai's released handgun. Money used the wall as cover as the thug came running blindly up the stairs. In the exchange of gun fire that followed, Money was able to drop one more body.

All those days of target shooting as a kid had given him true aim. He had never shot at moving humans before, but this was adrenaline and survival instinct kicking in. Tone cut Sekott loose and he and Jay helped him get upright, swinging his arms around their shoulders. Money kept his eyes glued to the stairs. There was one more man with the original gang. Where was he now?

"I'll go first," Money said, "You guys follow me down the steps, but first, tie that bitch up!" Jay let go of Sekott and grabbed the ropes that were recently tied around his wrists. Lamai was face down on the floor and Jay tied her hands behind her back. She looked at him scornfully.

"I'll find you!" She threatened.

Jay bent down and grabbed a hand full of her hair, jerking her head up. He looked into her eyes coldly. He wanted to kill her. He wanted to kiss her. He leaned down, putting his face against hers. He whispered in her ear, "I fucking loved you!" Then he threw her head down into the floor and proceeded with getting the fuck out of the old building that had become their prison.

The group moved together down the stairs, walking over the dead bodies. Money's aim had been true. They met no resistance. Jay and Tone dragged the body of the drugged Sekott, who was a bloody mess and looked gruesome.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Tone asked Jay.

"I'm shick!" Sekott answered.

The group reached the bottom of the stairs and scanned the hallway. Where is thug number five? They saw the front door and slowly moved towards it, past the room Tone and Money were held captive in and over top of two more dead bodies. There was a wet pool on the floor that Tone recognized as his contribution to the escape. They made it to the front door and opened it. Money stepped out, looked around and then came back in. "All right, go!" He yelled, "Get to the most lit up, public place you can find!"

Money covered their backs as they exited the building and drug Sekott up the alley. Money saw no one in pursuit and turned around to follow his friends. The three of them went running towards the main road with Sekott in tow. A gunshot was heard. Money dropped to the ground, a bullet in his back. Jay ran to him.

"No!" Jay screamed, "No, not now! Money! Fuck!"

The last mercenary, thug number five who had just dropped Money to the ground, ducked back into the building as Jay picked up the gun Money just dropped and emptied every round left in it towards the man wearing the red shirt. Tone dropped Sekott and went running to Money's side.

"Get the fuck up man," Tone said, "We gonna go drink some beers and fuck some bitches! Come on man, get up!"

Money looked up at him and smiled. Then blood spilled out of his mouth and he coughed out some more. He spit twice and then lay flat. Money showed no signs of life.

"Fuuuuuuuuuck!" Jay screamed.

Shots started to come at them from a second story window. None of the shots made their target but came very close. Jay and Tone knew that they had to move now.

"We gotta go man!" Jay yelled and they picked Sekott back up and dragged him towards the main street. He and Tone waved their arms wildly at every vehicle passing by until finally a pick up truck slowed, more so in order to avoid hitting them than to see what they wanted.

"Help us! Please!" Jay said. The driver was a middle aged Thai man with a very relaxed look on his face. He made no expression for a moment and then he his head, OK, and Jay and Tone threw Sekott's limp body into the pick up bed. Jay and tone looked back. No one was following them. They got in the front of the truck with the driver.

"Take us to the police!" Tone yelled.

"No!" Jay said, "Get us away from here!" Jay said in Thai. The truck pulled away. Sekott slobbered on himself. Money's blood spilled into the street. The last thug with the red shirt untied Lamai who was yelling for help. Jay was breathing heavily, wondering how things had gotten so fucked up.

CHAPTER 17 FLIGHT

"Dude! What the fuck are you into up here in nisaan?" Tone asked with a very serious stare. "We just got taken hostage! Knocked the fuck out! Shot at! Money's fucking dead! What the fuck are we doing here?"

Jay put his head in his hands. Tone had asked the right question. What the fuck are we doing here? Jay's mind was on overload. The events of the last couple of hours were racing through his head on fast forward and repeat.

"I am so sorry I got you into this," he said, "I had no idea, we were totally set up and you just happened to be here at a really bad time. And Money, Money's fucking dead!" This sentence was not registering in Jay's brain but it was resounding loudly, over and over again.

"We got to go to the fuckin police, and then get the fuck out of nisaan!" The driver looked over at Tone when he said this, recognizing this word, wondering what he was talking about because they were in an Isuzu.

"We can't go to the police!" Jay declined, "The police may be in on this! I think I know some one who can help us and hide us for now."

Jay spoke to the driver in Thai and offered him one thousand Baht to drive them to a temple near Nakae. The driver took a moment to think about it, and then agreed.

"Tone," Jay said, "I have a monk friend who can help us out. At least it will be a place to stay and think and rest for tonight and we can try to figure out what to do next."

"What about Mister Limpy in the back of the truck?" Tone asked.

"I guess he's coming with us for now." Jay replied.

"If it weren't for that dude," Tone exclaimed, "we wouldn't be in this mess at all!"

"We can't just dump him out of the truck." Jay said.

"Sure we fuckin can!" Tone offered. "We can leave his ass on the side of the road in nisaan here!"

"It's Isaan, Tone! But I have to tell you, there is something wrong inside me," Jay said slowly, "I have a sickness, and that fucker in the back there has it too!" Jay said motioning towards the bed of the pick up.

"What are you talking about!" Tone demanded.

"You ain't gonna believe this story either!" Jay said.

Tone replied, "Try me!"

"OK. Before this man showed up tonight, I think his name is Mr. Sekott, and before Lamai fucked this night up beyond belief, I was starting to tell you my story about what happened while I was out of touch with you." Jay related. The driver just kept looking forward and driving, occasionally glancing over at his passengers, but showing no indication of understanding their conversation.

"I told you that Lamai and her sisters were blood drinkers. This is no shit! I am speaking the truth. Her, her sisters and I don't know how many people in Thailand are the same. It could be half the population, I have no idea, I just know that there are more than you can imagine."

"So what was she doing tonight? Tone asked, "Getting ready to suck all of us dry?"

"No," Jay replied, "apparently, she set me up and she set Mr. Sekott up too, so we would be in the same place at the same time. She emailed Sekott in my name and told him to go to that bar, and then she called me, pretending to be a little hottie and got me to agree to meet her at that bar."

"So your dick decided where we would meet up and it got Money killed!" Tone looked at Jay, serious as fuck.

"I'm fucking sorry man!," Jay said, "But I had no idea we were going to be worked over. I feel so bad that you, and Money, were involved in any of this. I knew Lamai was angry with me, but I had no threats from her at all. This whole event seems to be out of place, but it seems to be all about this Mr. Sekott, that freak back there in the back of the truck."

"That's why I think we should throw him out!" Tone exclaimed, "If he's near us, that bitch will be coming after him, and I don't want to just happen to be there when she shows up with her crazy-ass, gun-toting posse again!"

"Sekott wanted to see me but I didn't know why. Neither did Lamai." Jay explained, "He was trying to get me to meet him, but Lamai played us both. While we were tied up in that room, Lamai tortured and drugged him and got him to spill his guts. He told her that his son is dying, because his son is half blood drinker. He must have had sex with one of the blood drinkers and had a baby. He was trying to get to me to have my geneticist brother to invent a cure for him. He wanted to inject me some infected blood, so I would have a reason to get my brother to help me, and help him get a cure for his kid."

"And, Why, don't you want to get rid of this fucker?" Tone yelled, "This fucker who tried to poison you and got, Money, killed!"

"Because I do need the cure!" Jay replied.

"What?" Tone asked with a screwed up look on his face.

"I have the impure blood in me already." Jay said. "When Lamai's sisters drained me, Lamai injected some of her blood into me to keep me from dying from loss of blood. Their blood is very regenerative and it pulled me back from the edge. Now, my body is fighting this blood as if it is an intruder. Her blood that is inside me, is trying to turn all of my blood into hers. If I don't get a cure, I will die, or become like her. She saved me and doomed me with one shot! But now, Sekott has information that I need about how to fix this, I think, if anything he says is true, so I need to get some solid answers out of him."

"Man, this is the craziest shit I have ever heard!" Tone exclaimed.

"I know!" said Jay, "I am just starting to accept it myself. My Monk friend told me many things and helped slow the process down. I know he can help us, and maybe when Sekott comes to his senses, we can figure out if my monk friend can help him too. And if Sekott is onto a cure, maybe my brother can help me and him both."

"How does any of this help Money though?" Tone asked.

"It doesn't. I know how bad this sucks, but if we didn't get out of there, we would all be dead?"

"Why was that crazy little bitch back there doing this shit?" Tone wanted to know.

"She must have some history with Sekott. Lamai made that known when I saw her interact with him back at the bar. I know it is dangerous to keep him around, but I want to at least find out what he knows. I will decide what to do next after I talk to him when he is alert."

"So we are going where, now?" Tone asked.

"I asked the driver to take us to a temple that I don't think Lamai knows about." Jay explained. "We can stay there safely and then figure out what to do next. You will be safe there for now, I'm sure."

"I don't want to be close to that fucker in the back of the truck!" Tone said, "If Lamai can track someone here from Pattaya, she can find my ass in Pattaya too. She seen us and she knows where the bars are that we hang out in. I don't think I am safe there either. I don't know where the fuck to go or what the fuck to do."

"Let's talk to Ajarn Santee first," Jay suggested, "He will give us some light, I am sure!"

In a couple of hours, the truck arrived at Wat Pah Santee. The driver parked the truck and helped Jay and tone unload Mr. Sekott. Tone had reservations about helping Sekott but it seemed like it was wise to learn more himself. They got him out of the truck bed and rested him leaning up against a tree. Jay gave the driver on thousand Baht and then gave him another five hundred baht and asked him not to speak of this night, this ride, where they went, anything.

The driver nodded in agreement and Jay hoped that he would be true to this. The temple gate was closed, as it was at seven o'clock every night. Jay called to Ajarn Santee who was probably sleeping. He slid they gate open, it wasn't locked, and went back for Sekott. Jay and Tone dragged him inside and around the first three buildings. Dogs began barking, so Jay went to a bin that he new contained some dog treats and he threw a handful of them in the direction of the dogs. The barking stopped. There was an elevated temple building next to the house that Ajarn Santee slept in sometimes. On the side of it was an attached room where Jay had stayed. Tone and Jay dragged Sekott into this room and lay him on the floor.

Jay walked back to the front gate and closed it. The dogs were quiet and so were the grounds. Jay thought that Ajarn Santee would not be here so he thought he would try and reach him in the morning. This temple had only one monk staying at it Jay figured him to be asleep. As Jay was walking back to where Sekott was placed, Tone appeared. "Does that freaky bitch girlfriend of yours know about this place." Tone asked.

"I don't think she does, so she has no reason to look for us here," Jay replied, "and in case she does..." Jay removed a gun that he had just stashed in his back pocket and checked the clip to see that there was still ammo in it. The monk had shown him where it was stashed, just in case he needed to be less-than Buddha-lake in desperate situations. Jay removed the bullets and reloaded it. Tone looked at Jay with uncertainty, wondering if Jay even knew what to do with a gun.

"If she does show up, do you have the balls or the ability to take that bitch out?" Tone asked.

"Seven more shots." Jay said, "One of them has her name on it for sure, but I don't think she will come here because she will be busy with the mess she has to explain. She is probably on the run herself from whoever is the boss of the men that were injured or killed. She usually operates alone. I don't know where she got that group of thugs."

"What is the deal with you and Mrs. Murder?" Tone asked. "What the fuck kind of evil freaky bitch did you get hooked up with anyhow?"

"Well," Jay said, "after her sisters drained me, I left her family's house and moved to a temple where I stayed with Ajarn Santee. I spent a few weeks there while I was healing and I basically cut off contact with her. The last time I saw her was at a farang bar in town near here. I called her a bitch and she slapped me. That was it. I hadn't seen her again until tonight."

Maybe you shouldn't have called that bitch a bitch." Tone said.

"Is there a problem?" Ajarn Santee asked as he stepped out of the shadows. Jay was clutching the gun tightly. He released his grip and tucked the gun back into his back pocket.

"Ajarn Santee," Jay's voice cracked as he addressed the monk. "I am surprised to see you here! I assumed you would be at your temple. I'm so glad you're here! We have a big problem. We need your help. This is Tone and there is another man asleep in the guest quarters." Tone waied to the monk and Ajarn Santee nodded to him.

"I am staying here this weekend to visit with Ajarn Maobungtee. I was sleeping but I heard the dogs barking." He said, "Come, let's go sit and drink some water and you can tell me your problem."

The three men walked into the temple and Ajarn Santee lit some yellow candles. He sat on a rug on a raised area that contained many statues of the Buddha. Jay and Tone sat on the floor just below him, a step down. Ajarn Santee handed them both a bottle of drinking water and Jay began to tell the tale, starting with a mystery girl's phone call, from Mae. The monk listened quietly and thoughtfully until Jay was finished. Then he paused for a moment and stared at his feet. Tone had been looking over his shoulders nervously during the entire relating of events.

"Your friend was shot, that is very unfortunate. I will pray for his soul this night. What has become of his body, do you think?" the monk asked.

"I don't know Ajarn," Jay regretted, "We were running from a shooter. Money didn't have a pulse. There was so much blood! He was lying in the street!" Jay said as tears began to fill his eyes from reliving the memory.

"Jay, you can not change what has already happened." The monk said, "You must pray to my master for help. He understands everything, including all the reasons for things we don't understand."

"Thank you Ajarn." Jay said with his head low.

"Lamai can be a very dangerous person," Ajarn Santee professed. "It will not be safe for you to stay here. Tonight I must speak with my master and listen to what he has to say. You should sleep for a while here, and in the morning, I will tell you what my master has said. You can listen for the dogs. They will let you know if any one is coming. I will ask the spirits here to protect this space. I trust you will be safe tonight."

Jay and Tone went back to the room where Sekott was sleeping heavily. "That lucky bastard doesn't even know that Money died saving his life!" Tone cursed, "If it weren't for Money, we would have never gotten out of the room we were locked in. He shot four thugs and knocked Lamai over. He got us all out of there. He saved our lives! Now he's dead! How is that fucking fair?"

"There is nothing fair about it!" Jay said, "It should be me dead and you guys drinking it up, still, in Pattaya, with lights and music and girls. This has all just blown up and now...now what? I can't stay here. You can't go back. I think you should come with me."

"With you and Mr. ...what the fuck's his name?" Tone said, "I don't think so."

"Where will you go then?" Jay asked.

"I don't know, back to America maybe." Tone replied.

"If you change your mind..." Jay offered.

Sleep came briefly to Jay and Tone lay awake near the snoring Sekott. No dogs barked and Tone was grateful for that. Ajarn Santee went into the inner silence to commune with his master. The stars crossed the sky, burning and exploding with the continuing creation of the universe, consuming unthinkable amounts of energy and spurting out ashes that will cool down, and support new life someday.

No clouds formed here in Isaan. The night was cool and easy for sleeping. Trees stood silent at the monastery. There was no wind to meet the obstacle of tree branches and announce its presence. An occasional leaf fell from a tree, creating the only motion save for the buzzing wings of mosquitoes.

Across the land, monks were waking up and beginning their morning rituals. Soon, they would walk through the towns and villages in orange robes, carrying large steel alms bowls to receive food offerings from the villagers, and some fluid offerings. Old ladies were waking up also, to be the first to greet the monks and give away some of their nutrition. Men slept longer, with rice whiskey still on their breath and in their heads. The more austere farmers rose now, not hungover, to work the fields while it was still cool and avoid the undesirable, skin-darkening rays of the sun.

Ajarn Santee walked through the streets of his village and met all of the villagers who were waiting to make their offerings of steamed sticky rice, box cartons of milk, sweetened rice wrapped in banana leaves, packages of instant coffee, tea and cakes. Ajarn Santee hobbled down the street and accepted the offerings until his bowl was full. He didn't need much because he only ate once a day and he lived alone at his temple, as a forest monk.

There were other monks from nearby temples also walking in groups, followed by young initiates called naens. Every male in Thailand spent some time living as a monk during his lifetime, and they most often did this while they were young.

When Ajarn Santee returned to the temple Jay where was staying at, he set the food out on a straw mat and called for Jay and his companions to come and join him. The sun had climbed above the tree line and roosters still crowed across the landscape. Jay shook Tone and Sekott to life.

"Wha.. wha.. where am I ?" Sekott asked.

"You are at a temple about fifty kilometers east of where you we were last night.

"What happened? I remem... I remember now. Lamai."

Sekott's face was a mess. He had streaks of dried blood painting his cheeks, a knife wound under an eye that he could not see so well through without his glasses, and a nasty seeping burn wound from a cigarette on his arm.

"Come on," Jay said, "let's go meet with my monk friend, Ajarn Santee, and have counsel. We can talk to him about what happened last night and decide what to do next."

The three men d joined the monk in the temple who was sitting on the floor. "Did you find some sleep last night?" He asked. An unenthusiastic collection of yeses resulted. "Did you speak with my master?" Ajarn Santee addressed Jay.

"No, Ajarn," Jay replied, I slept without any awareness of anyone.

"And who is this?" the monk asked, motioning towards Sekott.

"Uh, hello," Sekott waied, "My name is, Se.. Sekott."

"Are you a Christian?" the monk asked.

"Ya-yes," Sekott replied. With the introductions complete, Jay told Sekott the tale of the past twelve hours.

"You were drugged with some kind of injection," Jay told Sekott. "Do you remember that we were both tied, and Lamai was trying to get you to talk?"

"I remember." Sekott said.

"While you were under the effects of that injection," Jay recited, "You answered Lamai's questions as she demanded. You told her your son was sick. That your son was a half-blood, that he was dying, that you were trying to find a cure, and that you wanted my brother to help you. Is this all true?"

"Yes, It's all true." Sekott nodded, "I was trying to contact you in Pattaya, but she was always close. Lamai was following me. I wanted to talk to you about this situation. I think you know now why I wanted to talk to you. The blood drinkers. The Pee Doot Lewat. My wife. She is one. My son. He's sick. He's dying. I'm sure. I have a model for a cure. But it can't exist as it is. I need help. I need a geneticist. I need to collaborate with me on my work. Your brother. His work is, excellent. He can help me. I was trying to talk to you, to see if you could persuade him. This idea is very strange to some, someone who doesn't know the truth. I thought you might understand. I am desperate. I am driven, to find a cure. I thought you were contacting me, from the messages I passed you. I didn't know. Lamai. She set us up. I didn't know, she was going there last night."

"You're desperate, you say?" Jay asked.

"Y-Yes!" Sekott stuttered.

"Desperate enough to inject me with something, and poison me so that I would help you?" Jay said staring Sekott in the eye. Sekott was silent. "You told Lamai that you were carrying a syringe of blood to inject me with!" Jay said, angrily, "Is that how you ask people for help?"

Sekott stared at Jay for a moment, "It was wrong, I know. But I didn't. I'm sorry. It's wrong. I can't. I need to make a cure, but not by myself." Sekott said, frequently staring at his hands and picking at his fingers.

"Well, you didn't need to inject me." Jay said very seriously, "I'm infected already."

"What?" Sekott said, "How?"

"I'm guessing that you obviously spent some time with Lamai," Jay said begrudgingly, "If you knew I had been with her, you should have been smart enough to figure out that she was feeding from me. Her family drained me to the point of death, but an infusion from her own blood kept me from going to the other side."

"So," Sekott stammered, "So, do you have, the hunger?"

"No," Jay said, "Do you?" Tone and Ajarn Santee and Jay were all staring at Sekott.

"No," he said, "No. I am not a blood drinker."

"You told Lamai that you wanted the cure for yourself." Jay revealed.

Sekott realized that it would not benefit him to try and stick to this lie. If he were going to have any chance of persuading Jay to help him, he would need to stop giving him things to distrust him for. He figured some honesty might help him now.

"It's t-true." he stuttered nervously, "I too have the unpure, unholy blood in my veins. I do not drink blood like the others. I am staving it off. I eat cooked blood with chilies and stay d-drunk on rice whiskey. I find this keeps the hunger away. But I am so close to th-the cure. With your brother's help, you can be ka-clean again. And my son. And me. And maybe we can cure the world of this affliction."

Sekott really did think of this as an affliction. He was now willing to be the agent of God's righteous hand. He knew he was right, and he didn't imagine this monk had anything intelligent to say.

"Do you wish to help the entire world with your cure?" the monk asked Sekott, "And cure the poor people who have this, condition?"

"Y-Yes, I do!" Sekott said, "I want to help the whole world." In Sekott's mind, he saw himself as a redeemer, as a prophet, as the change that was needed. He was certain that God would want him to do this.

The kind monk looked at Sekott with a smile, "I think I can help you."

"I know of a man, who has pursued this cure also." Ajarn Santee began. "A friend of mine has studied natural and chemical ways to change blood of this line of people. He has made progress in the past and with some of the other brilliant and beautiful people I know, I am sure that a cure for you and Jay can be created. If you were to visit him, I think he would share with you what he knows about the, dis-ease. I have spoken to my master, and he has shown me this man's face. He has also shown me the vision of three men traveling to a new location, and three men walking away healed. I believe that the three of you should make a trip to visit this man. It will keep you out of the danger that Lamai would give to you. I will do what I can to keep her away from you. What do you think about seeking out this man?"

Jay was willing to take any advice from this monk. He had been wise and kind always. Jay liked the sounds of this plan. It meant safety he hoped, and help, soon maybe. Sekott instantly liked the sounds of this, because it meant he possibly had a knowledgeable colleague nearby, and he didn't have to use deviant tactics to meet him. This made him even more obsessed on eliminating the disease.

Tone's first thought was, No fuckin way! But he did not have a chance to voice his idea. Sekott hurriedly blurted out his ideas about this suggestion, and he wanted to convince the others to do this as well. Sekott acted like an impatient child about this idea.

"Yes. This is a very good idea!" Sekott said, "I have funds and can finance the entire trip. Anything you require, I can provide. And I can pay. Not a problem. Jay, we must do this?"

"I'm in." Jay said with a moment of resolve. This seemed like the most logical next step, and if the kind Ajarn Santee was suggesting it, it had to be a good idea. "I'll go. Let's see what your friend knows Ajarn Santee. Perhaps he can help me, and Sekott, and his son. For now, this sounds easier than trying to get my brother to invent a cure for parasitic blood drinking societies. Tone? Will you come with us, or are you going back to America?"

Tone's lazy survival instinct said to get somewhere far away from here and stay drunk in a chair in front of a TV, but after the shit that went down during the previous night, he felt a strong bond with Jay and didn't want to separate just yet. "OK." he sighed, "Let's do this!"

"Good!" the monk said smiling, "My master will help guide you on this journey. He has shown me a vision of you riding a train. I think that will be the safest way to travel. If Lamai is employing help to locate you, she will check the buses and the airports. I think it is best for you to travel across Southern Isaan by train. She will not be looking there. I will give you something that I want you to give to a monk friend of mine in Ubon Rachatani. This monk will have something for you, something that will help you on this journey. Will you take a gift to this monk for me?"

Jay looked at Tone and then at Sekott. Neither of them seemed to object. "OK, Ajarn," Jay replied, "we will go to Ubon first and visit the monk to collect whatever it is he has for us. I know there is a train station there, but where are we going, Ajarn Santee? Where is the man who knows about the cure?"

"Mae Sot," Ajarn Santee replied, "You can take the train from Ubon, across Southern Isaan to Nakhon Phathom. From there you can travel by Song Taeow Bus to the city of Mae Sot near Burma. Lamai will not expect you to be in these places. My friend's name is Seamus. He is living in Mae Sot. You can find him by asking people about the red farang. They will know who you are talking about. I do not know exactly where he lives, but you will not have trouble finding him."

CHAPTER 18 UBON

Ajarn Santee gave Jay a colorful, embroidered, cloth bag containing a statue of the Piyanah, the giant water serpent that is believed to live in the Mekhong River. This statue had a vertical cylindrical shape, with two serpents wrapped around it, each eating the other one's tail. The statue was gold colored and very ornate and intricate in its detail.

This Naga, or Piyanah, represented the power of night, the power of water and the power of the consort of the winged ones. This powerful creature, the Piayanah, is locked in an eternal battle with the winged being it is consort for. It wins the battle every night and loses it every morning, hence we have day and night.

Jay was instructed to go to a temple called Wat Patummalai in the province of Ubon Rachatani which lies in the most eastern part of Thailand. Ajarn Santee said that there was a monk there named Pra Ajarn Pisset, who would receive the statue that Jay was delivering. Pra Ajarn Pisset also had something to give Jay. This was as much information as Ajarn Santee divulged to the travelers.

It was afternoon, and the winter season in Isaan. The temperatures were mild, not too hot or cold. The air was dry. Dogs wandered in the streets lazily as the mismatched group of refugees walked onward. The group dynamic was odd, to say the least. Sekott was not socially adept. He was possibly, socially repulsive. Tone didn't like him. Jay, distrusted him, but, he also saw the advantage of walking with him for now.

These three sojourners followed a poorly maintained village street full of ruts and potholes. There was a shade pavilion with a yellow roof just ahead at the crossroads of this road and the main road. This style of shade pavilion was erected everywhere in Isaan, and most often, there were people under these roofs waiting for a ride to somewhere. This was the place to go and wait for a small pickup truck with two rows of seats in the bed, the only public transportation available, locally called a Song Taeow.

Everyone walked in silence, except for Tone, who sang to himself. Tone almost never stopped singing, playing with the craft of artfully stringing words together, creating connections of meaning and melody. Tone was a song that was always happening. He leaked creative energy, and became contagious. For those who were around him, it was like having a radio station playing all the time, playing songs that you want to sing along with. Tone sang his song, not loudly enough for anyone to discern the words, just audibly enough to feel the melody and wonder what was going on in his mind. If some one could have heard what he was singing at the moment, it would have sounded like this:

It's like Cirque du Soleil on mushrooms meets Kush groove

Mr. Armstrong couldn't touch Moon, I'm much too

high up from Dutchies and plus I'm a lush too

confused in this crazy world, what else can one do

to undo the untruths. They're microchip implanting the

planet, causing pandemics and famine. It's insanity.

Either that or my manifested schizophrenic fantasy.

Am I the only Naga who sees this, somebody answer me!

Like yo! everything that we put in our Leo hole's

genetically modified so we can die slow.

Capitalists patenting life fo' a price yo.

Til we're withered and disfigured Monsanto side shows.

Sekott shuffled along, his head slightly cocked forward, his mouth hanging open with his tongue partially protruding. "When we get to the bank. The ATM. I will get out some cash. No problem. I can share. Is that OK with you?" Sekott stammered and stumbled with his words. He was fishing for some kind of acknowledgment. He was lost in his hand-spun, home-baked insanity. Thoughts traveled through his brain in a constant flow, at high speed. Sekott was at the mercy of them. He had no control over his own mind and never attempted mind control with meditation. He watched his thoughts like an infomercial. He had so much information rolling around at every moment that all he could do was try to decipher it. Unlike Tone, who lassoed his thoughts, danced with them, played with them, got erotic with them and then either exalted them or killed them. Sekott was run over by his own thoughts like an overweight, Isaan, farm truck.

No one acknowledged Sekott when he spoke. His words were not even heard. Tone had suppressed his memory of the night before, the fear of being captive, running from bullets and seeing a friend die. He instead played with words in his mind and with his lips. He spun his creative word web and pushed the recent reality away, rather, he decided to create his own reality, where everything was, not dead, but alive. He was cruising along through this moment, carefree, lightly, lazily, home-free.

Sekott continued to focus on the ground passing by as his feet stepped one after the other, again and again, and his thoughts poured over him like glue beginning to harden.

Find the balance of amino acids-protein chains negated-reinstated-Alanine-Asparagine-Aspartic acid-Arginine-Cysteine-Glutamine-Isoleucine-Tryptophan-Phenylalanine-metabolic ratio-Hemoglobin interaction calculated-red blood cell regeneration induced by subcutaneous recombinant erythropoietin-iron deficient erythropoiesis in iron replete subjects-Asian specimen-the death of men-Amen.

Sekott's highly linear and cyclical operating mind was this whirlwind of data that he assessed, processed and coalesced. He was insane by some clinical standards, savant by others.

Jay's mind was heavy. He had a task before him, and a nightmare behind him, with a dream behind that, and guilt complex creeping in. Money is dead. That didn't sound real to him, and it bothered him that he could accept it at all. He wanted to feel bad enough to turn time backwards and grieve him back to life. He wanted to punish himself for being a catalyst in his friend's death. Right now, he had no thoughts at all about his body's own situation, his blood regeneration or his health's deterioration. His thoughts were dark, oppressed, and full of guilt.

Tone sung to himself, waving his hands and cocking his head.

He's, fucking dead, fucking Money

Drinkin' beers, fuckin' chicks and then he

killed a thug or two or maybe

He could take on a whole fucking army

Now purpose is unclear, walkin'

Fuckin' silent, nobody's talkin'

Thai smiles now fucking mockin'

Fuckin' bitch in the shadows stalkin'

As awkward and as solemn as ever a journey began, three people, together yet worlds apart, lost in their own thoughts, stumbling slightly onward, found no communication or coalescence. Bees crawled greedily over tobacco flowers. Crabs burrowed deeper into the earth seeking moisture. Leeches sensed heat and motion and moved towards the next meal. A baby was born. An old man slept. Sunshine. Moon glow. Stars. Clouds. The earth kept on rotating.

When they arrived at the shade pavilion, it already contained one person, an old lady who was sitting there waiting for the bus. The three farangs sat in silence under the same shade as her. She didn't smile or say a word, but stared with piercing eyes. In her mind, she wondered who these people were. Where are they from? Where are they going? Where have they been? What do they eat? How much money do they have?

No one noticed the old lady. They didn't notice how she hunched forward, because vertebrae number four, five and six were fusing together from years of bending over in the rice fields. They didn't notice her red stained teeth and lips that occurred due to chewing on betel nuts for a nicotine-like lift. They didn't see the way her small finger on her left hand turned in and could not fully extend, which was the result of injury she suffered while trying to bring a buffalo into its pen that became spooked by a snake. No body noticed the lady at all, other than an object taking up space.

The Song Taeow came and one mother with her daughter got off as the old lady and the three preoccupied travelers got on. Jay and Tone did not want to take a seat with the ladies on the bus, so they stood on the back platform and held onto the crossbar, riding in a standing position. Sekott sat down with the ladies inside the covered bed on benches. This was going to be a slow ride to Mukdahan, where they would get another Song Taeow to the city of Ubon Rachatani. They were taking this less-direct transportation to stay a bit more out of the radar of, whoever might be watching.

People got on and got off the Song Taeow. Ladies sat and men and boys stood. Monks rode up in the front seat along side the driver. Babies and small kids sat on mother's laps. Every non-farang rider stared or at least stole glimpses of the farang riders. Most of them had the same questions in their mind as the old lady at the shade pavilion.

This trip ended for the three travelers in Ubon Rachatani, The Lotus City of the King. Jay, Tone still-singing, and Sekott, stood on a curb, looking around and wondering what they were about to get into.

"Anyone hungry?" Jay asked. "It looks like there's a restaurant on every corner."

"I could eat the asshole out of a dead and rotting buffalo!" Tone professed.

"Uh, I want to find an ATM," Sekott said, "I can meet you at the restaurant in a little while. I want to pay for everything. Where should we meet?"

"How about that place over there?" Jay motioned towards a shop with a dozen wooden tables, half under a roof and half of them in an open aired seating area.

"Uh, OK," Sekott nodded, "I'll be back with money."

No you wont! Jay thought. Not with Money.

Tone and Jay sat down at a table and ordered drinks, grilled fish and shrimp. The restaurant was about half full and Isaan music was playing on the speakers. The street bustled with people walking, riding bicycles and motorbikes and cars and trucks. The motorbikes were often lit up and glowing with different arrays of lights and sirens. It was the style of young boys to trick out their motorbikes with as many after market accessories and non-stock parts as possible. This was their outlet, and Jay felt like he was getting older because wasn't impressed with all of the lights, chrome and colors. Ubon was a busy little city. It wasn't that little actually.

Jay and Tone sat at a table under the open air and ordered cold beers. "So," Jay said lifting his bottle of beer, "to Money!"

"To Money!" Tone said, "And to all the dead punk ass bitches he took out!"

They clinked bottles and drank deep.

"This seems so surreal," Jay said. "All of the sudden we are in Ubon with this freaky guy on some kind of mission to find some kind of cure. We are delivering serpent statues and looking for cryptic mystery men. We are fleeing from blood-sucking evil bitches and thugs with guns. I guess life is going to be an adventure, regardless of whatever plans I ever had for it."

"Yeah, teacher Jay," Tone said, "Life is but a dream.... It is what you make it!"

"I'm gonna make it a bit drunk tonight!" Jay proclaimed.

"I think I can help." said Tone, sucking down the rest of his bottle. "OW Bia Eek!" Tone yelled loud enough for who ever worked there to hear him, asking for more beer. Tone knew few phrases in Thai, and asking for more beer was one of them. Mr. Sekott showed up and sat down with everyone as the food and more beverages arrived.

"OK, here's for you, for now, I can get more." He said laying a stack of one thousand baht bills in front of Jay, "And here's for you." He laid another stack in front of Tone. "I'll get more when this is gone, no problem." It was nothing for Sekott to pass out money like this, and he neither took vain in it nor saw it as an insult. He just logistically made certain that everyone in his group had the necessary funds to navigate with.

"I'll see that this get's spent wisely and quickly!" Tone said, thumbing through the stack and counting thirty bills. Then Sekott laid three new mobile phones with touch screens on the table. The three men ate, drank and talked and even laughed a bit. Sekott mostly just sat there with a maniacal half smile on the right side of his face, and his left side was emotionless.

Sekott didn't care about money. He had plenty. But he did want to gain the favor of his traveling companions. They seemed a little more friendly toward him after he gave them phones and money.

He was close to the cure, for his son and for himself. He thought about his village wife Dang. Do I still want to be with her? Time was changing him. He had more and more contempt for the people of Siam. He was finding that his tolerance level was decreasing. He was beginning to feel entitled and superior to the people of this place.

My wife is just a common villager. He was a scholar with a doctorate degree. God has forsaken this country. His idea of being the initiator of genocide was growing within him like a cancer. He was starting to slip, into bigotry and contempt. At least now I am traveling with real Americans, he thought.

He would check out this man that the little monk told them about. It seemed to be the best course of action at the moment. If the man that they were going to visit could aid him in finding a cure, then it saved Mr. Sekott a lot of work enlisting some hope in his own country. If this venture didn't bring him closer to his goal, he would get Jay to bring his brother on board, by any means necessary. He was going to save the world, in the name of God, one way or another!

About seven beers later, the men sought out three single rooms at a hotel nearby and they checked in after a lot of translation. Sekott knelt down next to his bed and prayed. Dear Lord, grant me the means and the power to carry out your work and smite those who would be impure in your presence. Give me the knowledge I need to bring this cure into fruition, and to cast out those who would bring vile filth onto your good earth.

Tone didn't take off his clothes or his sandals. He just fell face first onto his bed and passed out. He would wake up in this same position the next day, hopefully not in a puddle of urine. Jay took a long cold shower before having a good restful, dream-permeated sleep.

The next day the crew met for coffee around a table in a restaurant next to the hotel. They decided that Sekott would go look for new glasses today, Tone was going to survey the city and Jay would go to the Patummalai temple and meet the monk that he was directed to see.

Tone was happy to have a wad of cash in his pocket and a whole new day ahead of him. No body killed him or drank all of his blood the night before. He sang to himself and went down the street, looking at tee shirts and shoes and digital music players.

¤

Jay took a taxi to the Putammalai temple. It was an old temple with Naga snakes and lion statues protecting it. Jay walked with a bag containing a gift and admired the rising statues and columns and old stone carvings. He especially noticed all of the wood root sculptures everywhere, and a huge statue of a deer with spreading wood roots for antlers. He asked a passing monk where he could find Pra Ajarn Pisset. The monk pointed to a point somewhere in the distance, and changed directions in order to take Jay there. They walked across an ancient stone courtyard with perfectly fitting hand-carved, stone tiles that had been that way for hundreds of years. At a building in a shady area of the temple complex, Jay was led up a flight of stairs and into a waiting room with a very high ceiling. Jay sat as the monk escort walked away in his robes of orange.

¤

Tone sang his way down several streets before meeting up with some locals who were drinking whiskey and soda at a shaded table. He was invited to join and accepted. Mornings held no taboo about drinking in Thailand, and especially not in Isaan. For Tone, the idea of waiting for a certain time of day to drink seemed as absurd as holding in a fart. Tone traded introductions with Jeng, Man, Toey, and Zaa, as they filled his glass continually with Thai whiskey, soda water and ice. These folks liked the little bit of Thai Tone could speak and taught him a few words in Isaan. He learned Kak-Kak-Kak, which meant good-good-good. He also learned Mee Hang Ngow-Ngow, which meant that he had a very powerful stream of piss, an idiom for being special.

¤

Sekott bought some glasses that would work temporarily and ordered a prescription pair for the next day. He found an internet shop, grabbed a chair and got online. He logged on to his private and protected personal website that only he ever visited.

All his work was there, out of view of everyone. He had this hidden partially because he knew that he would be ridiculed by professionals in the science community if he was the one known as the blood-sucker scientist. I'm not a blood sucker! I'm a man, and I am doing what I can to make this world right. Abnormalities must not be allowed to assimilate so they must be destroyed!

He continued his research on the cure he felt was so within reach now. He sent emails to a few people he had been corresponding with about current, published science papers. I can not be mentioned in any article! I am not going public! I have to remain undiscovered! He checked the headlines in the Bangkok post online. He looked for news for Isaan and Sakhon Nakhon. He didn't see anything about any foreigners being murdered recently.

¤

"Hello, can I help you?" came the voice from a slender monk walking into the room where Jay was seated. "I am Pra Ajarn Tham Pa kru Pisset." Jay stood up and waied the monk.

"Sawasdee Krub." Jay said as he leaned forward in a bow of respect. "I have been asked to give you something from Pra Ajarn Santee."

Jay handed the monk the handsomely embroidered bag he had been traveling with. Ajarn Pisset took the bag and looked inside. He took out the statue of the twinning Naga serpents and looked at it. He turned it around and around in his hands, studying it.

"Thank you very much," he said, "Do you know what this is?"

"No," Jay said, "Ajarn Santee only asked that I give it to you. What is it?"

"This is one of our oldest and most powerful legends." He began. "It is called Naga in Sanskrit and Piyanah, locally. The earlier settlers of the Mekhong Basin believed that the king of all Nagas lived here and was called Muang Budan. This is the spirit of the power of all the water in the world. It is a great beast that exists in all water, but it has been seen swimming in the Mekhong River. Every year, in the river north of here, the beasts spits balls of fire and light into the sky to strengthen the faith of the people. This monster is very powerful and protects all of the temples and all the people in Thailand."

"Is it true?" Jay asked, "Or is it a myth?"

"This is very true, and one has even been caught. There is a famous photograph of American Navy men holding up a giant Naga." he said, "It took many men to hold this beast out of the water. This creature is also the ancestral Pee Doot Lewat. It gave birth to the special race of people walking on the land, in an effort to bring balance to the world of men. Evil rulers in the past ordered soldiers to slay entire populations, so the Piyanah gave people a way to be strong, heal quickly and fight back. This statue that you have given me represents the duality of life in Siam. As the serpent swallows the tail of the next, and so on, life will change, be destroyed and recreated, for as long as there are humans and Pee Doot Lewat who walk the earth. Ajarn Santee gives this as a gift to my temple and it tells me that you are part of this never ending cycle. Is this true?"

"Yes," Jay said, "It is true. I am between these two worlds now, I guess."

"By your own hand you give this cycle away, and you give it to me." Ajarn Pisset spoke softly, "You are turning over your struggle and putting it in the hands of a holy man. This is symbolic that it is going to require your complete acceptance. I will take your burden and see if there is anything that I can do with it. I also have something to give you to help you now. The monk suggested Jay sit down and wait while he walked away to gather something.

¤

Tone laughed and joked with his new friends who were all happy to just hang out and drink and laugh. He busted out a few rhymes about the people at his table. He played with everyone's energy and had them all laughing and shouting. "Very Goose!" they called out in their Thai accent, meaning to say they enjoyed the rap Tone was spitting.

Jeng's pourin whiskey, my glass is never empty

Man's got the nam keng, icing down my drink again

Toey's got the smile, he's had it for a while

I think he likes my style, He's gigglin' like a chai-yuld

Zaa, what the fuck girl? I wanna know 'bout your world

Tone's right here drinkin', singin' with out thinkin'

Under arms are stinkin', Thai and farang linkin'

¤

The monk returned to Jay and handed him a chain with a pendant on it. It was a traditional Thai style necklace with five tear-shaped hoops, clasping and joining the pendant to the chain. The pendant was encased in an acrylic covering to protect it. It was a gold-colored, oval-shaped piece that looked like a metal coin. On the front was an image of a monk seated in the lotus position on a lotus flower with a Naga circling the upper half of his body. There were also symbols that Jay did not recognize above and below the monk. On the back was an image of the Buddha, crowned by a seven-headed serpent and also sitting in the lotus position. The monk had intended to give Jay something else, but couldn't locate what he was looking for so he gave Jay something that he thought might aid his travels.

"This in an image of the master, Luangpu Pupan," Ajarn Pisset said, "This is for you and will protect you on your journey. But remember, like any journey, it starts with a single footstep and getting to the destination is not as important as the journey itself. Everything is temporary, and adherence to one goal can limit you from seeing bigger goals. "

Jay studied the piece then held it in his praying hands and waied the holy man. "Thank you!" Jay said as he put the necklace on over his head. He liked the idea of having any help he could get.

"When you see Pra Ajarn Santee again you must show him this pendant." Ajarn Pisset said to him. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Jay. I hope you find what you are looking for."

Jay waied and bowed to the monk again who quietly turned and walked away. Jay took his new pendant and put it around his neck. He wore it with the one that Ajarn Santee had given him. Something felt strange to Jay about wearing two necklaces, and a new thought occurred to him.

Around the time of the sun in its highest point in the sky, Jay started back towards the area he thought Tone might be at. On his way there, he walked past a group of Thai people laughing and drinking and noticed that one of them was a dark skinned farang. It was Tone was looking fairly well lit up and having a good time.

Jay called out to his friend and yelled his name. Tone turned and cast a look of exaggerated bewilderment as he looked up and all around him.

"Jay! Jay! Muther fucker!" He smiled and laughed when he saw where the voice was coming from. "Come here man, you gotta meet these homies!"

Jay joined the group and had a drink in his hands before he could sit down. Tone had a sixth sense about finding a good time to be had, and he had struck again.

Jay explained that he was a teacher from America, that he was single and he lied about his age, claiming to be nineteen. He got fake scornful looks from the Isaan people who told him, "Bull-shit!" another English word they knew. They all took turns looking at his necklace and they gave each other looks of confusion when they looked at it closely.

"Kuhn bpen Pee Doot Lewat Lew Plow?" Toey asked Jay, wanting to know if he was a blood feaster as well.

"Mai!" Jay said, "No! I'm not one of them!"

Jay leaned over to Tone and asked him if he was watching these people pour the drinks. Jay reminded him that slipping things into drinks was a common practice to make people blackout and become unconscious, in order to easily feed on their blood.

"Oh. No! Mother fucker!" He said, "These cats are down with our mission, man! They gave me this medicine here." Tone reached in his pocket and pulled out a mobile phone first, then a crumpled up wad of bills, and then tried his other pocket and produced a bag with a black woody stalk in it.

"Yo! These mother fuckers know what's up!" Tone professed, "They gave me this root thing and said that if I eat some every day, that my blood will taste like shit to anyone trying to drink it. I told them what was up about Money and what you told me about these blood drinkers. I guess it's all true man! These fuckers all know about these blood burglars, and they don't like them much either."

Jay was amazed at the ease with which Tone lived his life. He seemed to receive the abundance of the universe effortlessly, without trying. He could be as lazy and unorganized as one could be and come out further ahead than the guy who was trying with all of his might to be successful. Jay was watching Tone once again just stroll into a good situation.

Jay remembered this phenomenon in Pattaya when they were both teaching. Jay would try too hard, Tone wouldn't try at all, and the end result was the same. Jay was thankful for Tone showing him this nugget of wisdom. It was perhaps that Tone was better suited for Isaan style and mindset. Jay was still trying to be the goal oriented, efficient, task-at-hand man, but found that his efforts only confounded the other Thai teachers and frustrated himself. He was glad Tone was along on this trip.

They complimented each other fairly well as they drank and talked and joked and laughed. As girls walked by, Tone and Jay called out numbers between one and ten. Jay saw a very cute college girl walk by and he called out, "Seven." A moment later he added, "Point five." Tone submitted the additional response, "On the dickter scale." They laughed out loud and had forgotten all about Sekott until a phone rang.

They tried to tell Sekott where they were but had no luck relaying any useful information to him by mobile phone hollering. Two-thirds of the party was too drunk to speak and the other third spoke only Thai. They told Sekott to call back when he could give his phone to a tuk-tuk taxi driver.

Just then, a group of young men and boys on motor bikes rolled by in a group. The motorbikes were modified to be louder, more fly, and brighter, with many lights flashing. As they passed by, they yelled words and phrases in Thai and threw a beer bottle at the group of people Jay and Tone were sitting with. The bottle hit the cement table they were sitting around and shattered, throwing shards of glass in all directions. Jeng and Man stood up and yelled back at them, calling them cowards and stupid fuckers-of-animals. Tone looked around, not realizing what had just happened. Jay shook the glass off of his clothes and asked Zaa if she was OK. She told him that she was and she began cleaning the glass off of the table.

"What the fuck was that" Jay asked.

"That was a group of buffalo-shit-eating Pee Doot Lewat" Toey said, "They just drive around together making trouble everywhere they go. People don't mess with them because they fight dirty, unfairly, always in big groups and always with weapons. They won't ever fight an even fight, they always wait till they have superior numbers. They are cowards, but dangerous, and they don't care about who they kill."

"Why are they fucking with us just sitting here?" Jay asked.

"Because they are just drunken, stupid people with nothing else to do with their lives." Toey said, "Don't worry about them. They probably won't be back."

"Fuck 'em!" Tone said, and offered his beer up in a toast, "Chok dee mother fuckin' kop mother fuckers!" Every body clinked glasses and bottles together in a good luck toast and got back to having a good time.

Sekott found a tuk-tuk driver and when he called back again, he was greeted by very loud laughter. He gave the phone to a driver and the driver spoke to Jeng who told him where they were sitting. The driver gave the phone back to Sekott and said, "Five-ty Baht." Sekott got in the tuk-tuk and the driver drove him twenty meters to where the crew was assembled. Sekott could have easily walked, but the driver didn't think that he should mention that. This would be the place that farang and Thai worlds intermingled for a drunken afternoon, evening and night, through the mediums of smiles, laughter, songs, sounds, guitar strummin' and banging on tables like drums. All of these things overcame the language barrier around that table that night. It also helped Tone and Jay forget about grieving the loss of their third amigo, Money.

A few blocks away, the bad boys on motorcycles were parked in an empty lot scattered with rubble and trash. They smoked Wonder Red cigarettes and passed around a bottle of lao khao whiskey and glasses of Leo beer. Another group of young men pulled up on bikes. Isaan gang signs were flashed and knuckles were bumped. Words were exchanged and arrangements were agreed on. The arrival of these men on bikes meant that there was going to be a hit. They were all available for murder. The price of a life was about five hundred baht, or about US fifteen dollars.

As they were talking, a monk emerged from the shadows. He whispered to the gang leader and then walked back into the shadows. No wais were exchanged. The leader said to the others there, "Farang Dam", which meant, foreigner dark.

CHAPTER 19 TRAVELS

"Oh my fucking head!" Jay moaned as he squeezed the palms of his hands against his temples and rubbed them in an orbital motion. Stumbling to his feet before he even tried his vision, he stretched and squeezed his eyes together tightly. "Where the.....?" He tripped over a pile of sandals and clothes, "Where the fuck am I?"

Jay looked around the plain room with white walls, tile floors and one double bed. He saw his wallet, his new phone and his Buddha necklaces on a simple, fake-wood night stand. Oh yeah. He squinted his eyes and tried to open them wide. He stretched his jaw open wide and shifted it from side to side, did a couple of stretches and opened the curtains to look outside.

"Ubon." he said, trying to recall the events that must have brought him to this room. He looked down on the table and saw a hotel key with the number 208 on a wooden key chain.

He stumbled into the shower and tried to come back to life in a cold stream of semi powerful spray. Jay looked around the hong nam and took note of the black growth on the ceiling and walls. The sink had a faucet that was loose and the sink was hanging off the wall at a steep angle. The mirror was more hazed than reflective and the soap dish tray had been ripped off the wall also. The toilet was a ceramic hole in the floor. It was a squatting-style fixture that was elevated a foot higher than the bathroom floor on a cement pedestal.

The water tried to go down a small hole in the corner of the floor but decided to create a small pond instead. This was not so bad of a bathroom as far as some of the ones Jay had used. There was a bucket of water on the floor with a green plastic pot with a handle which was the Thai alternative to toilet paper. There was also a hose for spraying off your junk or your trunk. The tile on the floor and walls was old and cracked in many places, but the room was fairly clean. Jay knew this would never fly in a hotel in America, but he knew he was not in Kansas anymore. He started feeling better and his headache subsided a bit. He wondered if anyone slipped anything into his drink last night as he surveyed his body for sores or cuts. He was relieved to not see anything new.

Jay dried off with a towel that was stained but smelled clean and floral scented.

He called Tone. No Answer.

He called Sekott. No answer.

He got dressed, put his necklaces around his neck and went out to discover what the world looked like outside his hotel room. He still had quite a bit of cash on him and he decided to look for a more Western style restaurant, not worrying about being conservative with his spending due to his recent cash infusion.

He had just spent the night in the Sabai dee Hotel. This he learned from the short young girl working at the reception desk. He asked her if any other farangs had checked in with him last night. She told him that there were three farangs that checked in last night, but she hadn't seen them this morning. Jay smiled at her and wondered what it would be like to run his fingers through her straightened, long, black hair and what it smelled like. She smiled back and Jay felt that pain in his chest that comes from being alone and desiring a change in that life aspect.

Jay found a coffee shop that had some croissants and sandwiches and real, ground bean coffee. He called back to the hotel and asked the cute reception girl to tell any other farangs that came out of the hotel where he was having breakfast. The smell of this café was intoxicating to him. He realized that he was missing Western things like this, but only when he was around them. When they were out of sight, they were out of mind.

Jay looked through a copy of the Bangkok Post and sipped on an espresso. He couldn't read the language on the paper except for a few words, but he looked at the pictures and tried to figure out what they were writing about. The letters looked like a mysterious form of art to him. In the pictures, it looked like people were celebrating a monk, a bus went off the road and the Thai army had busted some 'bad guys' with lots of guns and cash and Yaba amphetamine.

The coffee shop was air conditioned and felt very nice and relaxing. He wasn't in the rural region he had lived in recently, he was now in a more international city that had some amenities that he could appreciate. Is that actually smooth Jazz playing on the speakers? Jay's phone buzzed and he saw Tone was ringing him.

"Ay, whassuup muther fucker. Ahh?" Tone said through a scratchy voice.

"I'm at Bon Cafe," Jay said, "Come grab a sandwich with me and a cup of Joe and let's talk about today."

"Aight man! Gimme' a few," Tone said, "I gotta kick Zaa out of my bed first."

"You dawg!" Jay exclaimed, "Take your time. I'll see you when you get here."

Sekott was the first to arrive at the coffee shop to meet Jay. He wanted to discuss many things with Jay, but his awkwardness, coupled with his mind that was starting to go south, kept him from doing this. Sekott was not a good conversationalist, and to this point, he really had no report with his traveling companions. Sitting with Jay, waiting for Tone, he didn't have anything to say, but his mind was operating on high speed.

What is the proper mode of transportation to our destination? Is there any reason for Tone to be on this trip? How can I speed up the rate of travel with these men? If the cure becomes available, I should separate from these men immediately. If I can withhold the cure from Jay, perhaps I can use him to further my idea to eradicate this sub-species. How can I best deceive Jay? These thoughts ran through his head on loop with an ever flowing stream of other parading and morphing thoughts. Jay was wondering where the coffee beans came from in the cup he was drinking.

Tone arrived after a little while, smiling and dancing. "Good morning! Peace and blessings beautiful people!" he greeted.

"Some one got laid night." Jay said.

"I am fine thank you, and you?" Tone said pulling out a chair and sitting down as he teased his curly scalp with a comb.

"Those were good people we met last night," Jay said, "I ate some of that root they gave us. It tastes like ass, but if it works..."

"I at some of Zaa's root chakra, and it also tasted like butt, because it was her butt mother fucker!" Tone laughed.

"A-a-uh, sounds delicious." Sekott said, emotionless.

"Any how," Tone said, "Whose grandma do you have to fuck to get a cup of coffee around here?"

Three men sat drinking coffee together, but two of them had been suppressing their grieving process by drinking heavily and one was plotting to wipe out a race of people. The group dynamic was not very well synchronized. It was like two hydrogen atoms trying to release from one oxygen atom, like water trying to become flammable. Tone did not like Sekott but was indifferent enough to not give a fuck. Jay didn't like him either, but he wanted to find a cure for himself if there was one, so he felt obliged to see this mission through with Sekott, thinking he would be helpful, maybe even life-saving. He wanted to understand Sekott but this was proving to be an impossibility. What the hell is going on in this weird guy's head? Jay wondered.

"There is a train station not far from here," Jay told. "We can board there and ride until we feel like stopping. The next town and province is Si Saket. Maybe we can stay there for the night and see what kind of place we can find, free of trouble. Maybe we can meet some good people again like last night. I think, like the root that Toey gave us, any help from locals will be an asset."

"That's what's up!" Tone said. "Throw down in Si Saket!"

"Uh-Uh maybe we could try to make some more time and travel further." Sekott said, being in a hurry to complete his agenda. "We could just sleep on the train and cover more ground."

"Maybe," Jay said, Let's just roll on a bit and see how we feel."

The train rolled down the tracks with a steady beat. Tone rapped along to the sound of steel train wheels crossing rail joints. D-duum D-duum D-duum. Only he knew what he was singing about. He and maybe Ajarn Santee's master, or perhaps Sekott's righteous smiting god knew as well. For sure Tone knew, or maybe his lips were guided by angels to produce cosmic truths. If only Jay had his harp he would play a convergence on his harmonica, he thought, as he heard the whispers of Tone's incantation. Jay clued in on the train beat as well. Jay, like Tone, often had a continual beat in his mind. It was a beat, not words, just constant pulses of energy revealing the patterns of universal order and disorder in its vibration.

Jay, Tone and Sekott had been on the train for less than an hour now. It was a standard train, which meant there were no seat numbers and anyone could sit anywhere they wanted. The train was packed with riders, and Sekott sat nervously on a seat with a man who was dressed like a farmer. He looked to Sekott like he was an American style outlaw biker.

The whole while that the train was rolling, vendors, dressed the same as Isaan rice farmers, walked the train aisles with buckets of anything for sale. One lady had a bucket of barbequed chicken quarters tied to bamboo sticks. The next lady had Som Tum papaya salad, reeking of plah daeg which was the Isaan favorite, fermented fish sauce. A man walked by with an ice bucket full of sodas, beer, coffee and local white whiskey called lao khao. Tone was impressed with this beer delivery and, with Sekott's streaming cash flow, Tone enjoyed many cold beverages from the vendor's icy bucket.

Jay watched the scenery fly past, as his mind went wandering into the rice fields, wondering what was happening there at this moment in time. What lives are connected to each of those stalks of rice. What were the thoughts in the mind of the farmer at the moment their fingers pushed each stalk of rice into the mud during planting time? What families worked there? Where they Pee Doot Lewat or not.

This idle time gave an opportunity for Jay's mind to drift to Lamai and Money. Where was Money now? Was there an afterlife? Were there many afterlives? Which one would Money have chosen? Which one would Lamai go to, if I killed her? Would I kill her if I saw her again? Could I kill her? How much revenge is inside me? Do I still love her?

Jay became lost in his thoughts, getting deeply introspective. He thought about all of the events that occurred since he met Lamai. Love, injury, deception, Isaan village life, Ajarn Santee, meditation, memories, being set up, Money's death, Mr. Sekott; all of this had lead up to now.

They were an unlikely trio, traveling for an elusive cure into an unknowable and perhaps an impossible situation. Jay thought of the possibilities that might lie ahead. I might find a cure, become pure and, then what? Will I be the same as I was before this whole mess started? Or have I evolved somehow. I feel the same, but I am not the person I was when I came here looking for fun. I have a life here. A very interesting life.

He let his mind drift with darker clouds. Can I stop any of this from happening to me anyhow? Could this be a blessing in disguise? What if I let the changes take me? What would I be like? Could I live that way? Could I join and live with the same kind of people? Live like them? Have a life and a family with someone? Could I make children with someone? Could I have a family with Lamai? Little blood sucking babies? Jay shook himself out of this thought spiral. How could I possibly think about living with Lamai? After what she did? Am I crazy? Am I still under her charms? Or, was this just Love?

¤

Lamai was bent over picking vegetables in her mother's garden. She had a basketful of greens, cilantro and small Thai eggplants. She was thinking about what happened in Sakhon Nakhon as she pulled greens from the soil, while her inverted cone hat kept the sun from her head and neck.

She had to pay an extra five thousand Baht to her mafia connection because of the death of his thugs, who were really police men, as was he. Lamai used up her local muscle favor and things ended up terribly. She lost her status and sway, because four men had died. She had to pay another thousand Baht for the removal of Money's body blood stains.

She didn't get to kill Sekott, or Jay, but she did have her answers now. She knew what that little fuck Sekott was up to and she now saw him as a personal, a family and even a regional or national threat. Sekott was going to be eliminated soon, she was sure of this.

She wasn't sure where they took the dead farang's body, and she didn't care. She remembered seeing him dead in the street, lying in a pool of blood, and then he was gone. She was certain some farmers or maybe some older boys found him and saw a free meal. They probably drained him first and then dumped him in the reservoir. His body, if it ever turned up, would be explained as a drunken farang swimming accident. She only told someone to clean his blood from the street so it would not look so obvious.

Sekott had slipped away, Jay was out of her control, and now a third farang was out there who knew too much and could identify her. She knew he would be easy to find, because of his loud mannerisms and his tone of color, so she had ordered a hit on him that same night he had escaped. If they found him, the others would be close, and she would deal with them personally. Problem solved.

Her problem would be more than she could buy her way out of if things reached too high of a level of media broadcast. She was clever at navigating all of the corrupt passageways that were currently the norm, but she knew that there was no real loyalty within those halls. The person that she paid to bite his tongue would forget that agreement as soon as bad publicity came his way and caused him to lose face. In most cases, not losing face was paramount, so breaking deals, dishonesty and disregard for loyalty were acceptable actions in this light. If it became public knowledge that foreigners were being murdered by Pee Doot Lewat assassins, those mercenaries would do whatever was necessary to shift the blame, and her ass could end up in jail. She was not going to become part of the prison system. The thought of this reality gave her the resolve to complete her task, and soon.

Farangs were farangs because of the color of their skin. There were not a lot of dark-skinned farangs in Isaan, so they were more noticeable and gossiped about more than the lighter-skinned version of the farang. Farangs were always gossiped about, because, they looked different, they had strange ways, they were a strange shape, and they had the desirable light skin, big noses and nose bridges that everyone coveted. But a dark-skinned farang was like a double-farang, and got double gossip exposure. Soon, Tone would be sighted and Lamai's paid hit-man, a man with no name, would place a blade into his soft tissue. When that would happen, there would be one less person that could cause any trouble in her life.

Lamai's mother called to her from the outdoor kitchen. Lamai grabbed her basket and walked back up to the house to take a break and get out of the skin-darkening hot sun. "Lamai!" Her Mer called, "Lamai! Som and Belle are coming home. They are sorry and want to make payment to you. They have something special for you."

"What? When are they coming?" She asked.

"I just spoke to them now. They are on the bus and will be here this evening." Mer replied, "They have a farang for you!"

"A farang!" Lamai screeched, "I don't want a farang! Is this their payment? Do they think this will make things right?"

"Let them come home and make peace with you." Mer said, "We need them here to work and to make the family solid again. Please, Lamai! Allow this to burn the old rice field and make it fertile for new planting."

"Mer," Lamai commented, "They almost killed my last farang meal, and now Jay is gone and can make big problems for me. Why should I not kill them myself? It is my right."

"Lamai, be smart for your family." Mer said, "Allow the family to come together again!"

Lamai walked away looking at the ground, angry, her thoughts spinning. She had to kill three people now. She knew Sekott was trying to use his overly intelligent mind to create something that could hurt her, her family, her friends, and everyone like her. He had to be stopped and soon. Jay and Tone had to die because they could implicate her or make more trouble by helping Sekott.

Not every policeman was mafia connected. There was still that chance that she could be arrested and go to jail, locally called the monkey house. Or maybe she would be forced to go underground if enough bad publicity occurred in the media. She didn't order hits on Sekott and Jay, but she had put the call out to all of her contacts to help locate them. They were possibly still together. If she could find them again, she would kill them herself, and would destroy all of Sekott's research, so no one could use it in any way.

As for Jay, she thought she would kill him differently. I am going to fuck him and drain him at the same time. Death with an orgasm. I might as well get one last ride out him.

¤

The train stopped at very small stations that were no more than a three by three meter shack with a bench and a shade roof. People shuffled on and off the train at every station, some carrying baskets and boxes of everything edible, drinkable and salable. Sekott was mostly quiet during the trip, obsessing with the thoughts that tormented his mind and never gaive it rest.

Tone was starting feel the effects of semi-cold cans of beer on his brain and his eyelids increased their angle of droop by three degrees. His smile increased its arc by nine percent. This was an overall twelve percent increase in happiness and thirty percent increase in not giving a fuck. Jay ate some of the roots that were given to him by his Ubon friends and enjoyed some cold beverages to wash out the bitter taste.

Jay and Tone got a lot of attention on the train, being farang as they were. Sekott would have received this also, except his social awkwardness often quelled any flames of conversation that sparked. Tone shared hip hop lines with anyone that seemed like a music lover, and the few lines he knew from Thai songs were a big hit, with many people ready to sing along whole heartedly.

Jay got attention from the necklaces that he was wearing. When people saw him accessorizing with something from their culture, they were automatically impressed and wanted to know more. Always, there was a desire to view the pendants up close. Jay was intrigued with the different expressions that people had when they looked at the jewelry up close. Most people had an initial open-eyed response with raised eyebrows. This would next turn into either a confused look, a knowing smile or a look of fear followed by Jay being ignored. Jay wondered about these mysterious pendants and even more about people's reactions to them. No one offered to buy or trade for them.

¤

After a nap, Lamai went back and continued to work in the garden, her thoughts bothering her brain, and the sun activating her modified melanin. She had to accept her sisters' return and their gift. What kind of farang would they be bringing? She would do this for her Mer, even though she would much prefer to remove her sisters' heads. This time, she would go along with the idea. It would be rude to not go along with another person's idea. If they went through the trouble to have an idea, it should be followed. To do anything else was not polite, but Lamai was not always polite. She ripped green onions and scallions and lettuce from the dirt, imagining them being the phalluses of the farangs she despised.

A tuk-tuk pulled into the front yard of Mer's house. Lamai was in the outdoor kitchen with her mother washing vegetables when she looked out to see who was arriving. Belle and Som got out of the tuk-tuk first, and then, a tall, portly farang wearing a tank top and shorts got out of the vehicle, looking like a misplaced tourist.

"Hello! Hello Lamai!" Belle called from the vehicle, waving and showing a big smile on her face. Lamai didn't answer, but studied the figure of the farang that was intended to be her dinner. He had no hair on the top of his head but had tufts of white hair bulging around his ears and all over his shoulders. He had big arms and a big chest and belly, which also looked to be covered with large curls of white hair. He wore banana hammock shorts and his legs were thin and hairless. He looked like a big top heavy bald white monkey with misguided hair. Belle and Som and the old white monkey walked to the kitchen carrying bags. The farang had a suitcase and Belle and Som had bags of dried fish and squid and sweets cakes from Bangkok that you couldn't find in Isaan.

The sisters had bought presents with the farang's money before they came back home. While they were in Bangkok, they had followed their friend's directions to Nana Plaza and found the street where the farangs flocked to. Belle and Som were not raging beauties, but they got their hair and faces made up at the beauty salon and bought some sexy skimpy clothes. They chose a location on the street that was darker than the flashing light areas and they did their farang fishing their.

They were not skilled fishers of men, so the first few attempts were not successful in the least. Som's first attempt was to stand in front of a farang and block him from walking down the sidewalk. When this caused the farang to stop and look at her, she tried to stand in a sexy position, pushed her breasts in the direction of his face, and then smiled widely, revealing several of her rotting teeth. This farang quickly moved to the road and kept walking, quickly, towards his hotel, and away from the scary, pushy girl.

Som had several more failed attempts using this same technique, just standing there, leaning against a wall in a suggestive pose, and pulling her skirt up as high as she could without actually showing her bushy undergrowth. Belle was the more intelligent sister and saw that this wasn't working, and that they needed a new plan. Belle talked to some Hole in the Walls who would allow her a moment of their precious time. From them, she learned that most girls worked in the bars and got a thousand Baht for a short time.

They learned that girls who did not have a bar mamasan as an introduction broker, would try to work the streets instead. They were more susceptible to police demanding money and to men who might try and take them for free by force, or as it is called in some countries, rape. The street worker had to work for about half the fee a bar girl could collect. Belle saw this as an opportunity to undercut every one else selling fish at the market. If the other vendors had a thirty baht fish, she could sell hers for twenty and steal customers. This was not polite to do and was scorned as a breach of an unwritten, unorganized, collective bargaining code of ethics.

The girls returned to a dark area of the street where farangs were walking between bars. They sipped on iced sugarcane juice and waited. One hulk of a farang was approaching, and as he walked by, Belle called out, "Three hun-red."

The farang stopped and said in a thick British accent "Excuse me?"

Belle looked back at him and with a sexy smile said, "Three hun-red Baht." The farang looked at both of the girls, as if they were different types of sausage sandwiches, but said nothing.

"Two lady for three!" Belle added.

"Are you saying that you want three hundred Baht and I get both of you?" The man asked.

Som looked at Belle confused. Neither of them was strong in the English language. "Two lady go wif farang, three hun-red baht!" Belle repeated her offer.

"Well, I can't refuse an added value like that!" He said and took the girls under each of his arms.

They went to his hotel and tried to give him sex the way they imagined a farang would want it. They made a lot of loud moans, like they were being driven out of their skulls with unbearable pleasure. This seemed to have an effect on the farang as he quickened his pace. While one girl rode him, the other would try to push her breasts into his face.

It would be impossible to have him be on top, as he would physically crush the smaller girls below him. He came in about ten minutes and then they teased him and played with him until he rose to the occasion again. They switched position and brought the vile, beer-smelling whale to orgasm again after an increased amount of work, grinding and moaning and acting like this was the best sex that ever happened in their lives.

When this threesome was finished grinding, they told the farang "five hundred baht, two ladies, all day, long time". The old pervert, whose name was Frank, thought this was a good idea, so he hired the two, OK looking girls on a girlfriend-experience agreement. They would stay with him and be his escort and holes for his pole.

He bought them drinks and they found it easy to slip additives into the drunken man's whiskey glass. They double-dosed him with 'forget serum' and sedative. At night they would enjoy a feast from his veins as he slept, passed out completely. They drank from inside his anus with a feeding tube. They thought he wouldn't notice any incision there, and they new Lamai would never look there for a wound. They didn't want her to know that they had already sampled the gift meant for her.

This went on for two more nights, and then, the sisters showed the farang pictures of Lamai, in shots when she was younger and she was looking very good. They told him, "Lady very beautiful, want farang. You go OK?" This portly old farang, after having a lot of cheap sex with the sisters, thought that if this third sister was as cheap and as enthusiastic and even prettier than this pair, then how could he refuse.

Frank agreed to go to their home and meet their farang-seeking sister. He was unaware of it, but after the last time that he had sex with the sisters, they began spiking his drink with something new. They added a toxin that would reside in his blood cells, which would not affect him at all, but would be poisonous to a Pee Doot Lewat.

This poison was very obscure and could only be concocted by herbalists with an ancient wisdom that was passed on exclusively by oral tradition. Belle and Som knew about it because, when they were young girls, an old medicine man who was sexually abusing them, told them about it to frighten them and keep them silent. He recently agreed to sell it to them if they performed more of the certain sexual things that he wanted.

On the bus ride, they slipped enough of this poison into Frank's beverages to kill Lamai if she drank from him, and that was the plan. With her gone, they had no more problems from her, and Mer would give them more attention and more inheritance.

Mer had other daughters with farangs that sent her money all the time, and the two sisters living at home knew that Mer stashed most of it away, living simply and inexpensively, a bit of a miser. Their problem was that they were greedy and they wanted this for themselves, as much of it as they could get, and not share any with Lamai who was clever enough about tricking farangs for money. Lamai would drink the blood, and she would die. Problem solved.

They had taken a bus in the morning from Bangkok and now had arrived as the evening sky was showing its colors and turning dark. As Frank got out of the tuk-tuk, he looked in the direction of the kitchen where a couple of ladies were busy. The one lady looked older than himself, and he thought for sure that this could not be Lamai. The other girl in the kitchen had her hair tied up in a bun and had a pissed off look on her face. Maybe this was the one, although she didn't appear as stunning or as sexy as the girl he saw in the picture. He came all this way, so he thought he might as well go have a look. At least he would get his rocks off was the assessment he made.

Lamai was apprehensive about this meeting. She was still harboring a resentment for the stupid actions of her sisters. Here they were now. Lamai had to say something.

"Hello Belle, Som." She said with a fake smile, "You are welcome home."

"Lamai," Belle said bouncing and excited, "This is Frank, he is for you!"

Lamai turned to look over the farang. Typical she thought. Fat, drunk, old and stupid.

"Hello, Frank," she said, "How are you?"

"I'm bloody good doll, and how is your sweet little arse tonight?" He said with his grin widening, noticing up close, that this girl had a magnetic charisma and a natural beauty.

"I am fine," Lamai lied, hiding her anger. She was not impressed with this man, but what the hell, he would be a meal, and she assessed that maybe she would get her rocks off.

CHAPTER 20 ASSASSINS

If Tone wasn't lost in his rap lyric world, if Jay wasn't lost in his daydreaming, if Sekott could just be a part of the mundane world around him, any of them might have noticed that a monk had been watching them very closely, or they might have noticed that teo policemen and the two men sitting with the police were also staring at them intently. The monk, sat wrapped in orange robes, looking solemn and expressionless. His robes hid most of them, but a few tattoos were visible on his hands and neck and head. People riding the train gave him the respect that they show all monks and waied and lowered their heads in his presence. He gave the slightest of nods to acknowledge their gesture. Nobody knew that he was something besides a holy man. He was a monk assassin, nicknamed Touch, as he was known to have killed men before with what seemed like only a touch.

Touch was watching these farangs with intensity. He was prepared to get off the train and follow them wherever they went. He reached a hand into the alms bowl he carried and felt for his knife in its sheath, just for reassurance. He pictured the blade of this knife sliding easily across farang neck, sinking in deeply and releasing warm sticky liquid over his hand. He squeezed the handle of his knife and released it, removing his hand from the bowl that was meant to receive holy offerings, not conceal weapons. He stared at the farangs, loathing them. He hated farangs. He hated farangs in his country. He was unlike most monks. He was unlike most Isaan people. He was full of hate.

Jay was still thinking about Lamai. Tone would kick his ass if he knew this. Even after everything that happened, Jay could not get her out of his head. He really just wanted to be loved, but he was attaching that emotion to the last person that he had feelings for. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted her. He missed her. He hated her. Are her charms so powerful, that even after the death of my friend, I still am pining for her? He thought of what he would say to her if he saw her again, and things were different, if Money wasn't dead, if she never abducted him.

His mind was slipping into the past and trying to find something familiar there, something to anchor to, something that did not feel like pain. Jay was obsessing. He was trying to forget everything and to find this feeling that he remembered as happiness. The memory drifted into his mind of cruising on a motorbike with Lamai, her arms wrapped around his waist, him singing just for the sake of being happy. He wanted to go to a happy place with her not in it. He couldn't. Her charms were deeper than he projected. Her spell was still pulling at him.

Everything came rushing back. His resolve to be done with her. His being on the run because of her. The things Ajarn Santee had told him about her. Money! For fucks sake, Money! What kind of hold does this girl have on me? What dark magic has she enacted on my soul. Why do I still want to find something good in her? She can't be that powerful. Is this desire for her still there because of her blood that is in my body?

Sekott had all of his attention focused on a six by ten centimeter screen. He was pushing buttons and searching the web for ingredients. He was ordering herbs and chemical components to be shipped to the Mae Sot Post Office as a general delivery. He could pick them up when they got there without anyone knowing what he was up to. He was purchasing a collection of items, which he could make into poison.

He wanted to concoct something to make someone's stomach hurt, something to make someone pass out, something to stop someone's heart from beating, and maybe something to coagulate someone's blood within their veins, like cement. He ordered tubes for injecting, bottles for dispersing atomized droplets and a pill press to make copy tablets. In his mind, he could see Pee Doot Lewat writhing in pain. He saw their faces as their blood hardened and their long lives were shortened. He saw Tone and Jay sleeping peacefully under the chemical influence of a sedative cocktail he would make. Before he would find the cure, the cure for himself, the cure to end the lives of the blood drinkers, he could use other poisons to kill the foul demons in devious and cruel ways. He would begin a campaign to eradicate the vermin. He would be God's champion.

Tones mind was rolling with words coming together in phrases and rhymes. He was thinking about Zaa, the cute little Laos girl that he spent an evening with for a thousand Baht. He thought of the plight of the working girl, who was trying to do something useful, have status, provide for her family, and get respect. His mind kind of sounded like this:

Let me tell you 'bout a girl working up the street

in a karaoke bar 'bout ten kilomete'

She's got a smile real big an the titties to match

for a thousand Thai baht she will sell you her snatch

She lives next door in a country called Laos

She's trying to make money the only way she knows how

She can stay in her own country work all day and make squat

So she comes across the river to sell twat for Thai baht

She can't work in the market 'cause she ain't got Thai papers

So she works at a bamboo bar where any old man can rape her

I guess you can't call it rape if she's already willin'

So some old man calls her over and her titties he's feelin

She gets groped all night, by both young and old alike

She gets paid fitty baht a night, and that ain't shite

If the girl gets lucky, some old man wants to rent her

And she goes off with him where ever the mamasan sends her

When old men come in, they want to drink and sing a song

They expect a pretty girl to sit with them all night long

They put their hands on these girls, their tiny dicks getting harder

But they usually don't fork out the cash to make the pussy trade barter

She might get two customers each month when times are good

But she would go every night with some one if she could

On a profitable month she only pullin' in a few thousand

But does get free rice, free showers and free housin'

She sleeps on a bamboo table with five other girls

who all work in this sing song, beer and karaoke world

She's got a mom back in Laos whose health is bad now

She's gotta pay for her family to have some rice to gin khao

Never knew her fuckin dad, heard he was always getting wasted

As a poor little girl, rice was all she ever tasted

So what else could she do? Stay at home and stay poor?

Or go make money cross the border, where they call her a whore

So when you'rr sipping your espresso voting for a rich politician

Don't forget that your fat ass is in a much more comfortable position

You cast judgments up and down, based upon your religion

Red or blue, left or right, gay or straight that's your decision

When a poor chick sells her pussy, it does not constitute

that she is a sinner, something less, that you would call a prostitute

This girl ain't got a choice, she has to fuck to survive

By opening up her legs she helps keep her whole family alive

Her sister's ugly, mom is sick, dad's a drunk and so is her brother

She never knew what it was like to have somebody really love her

So she's doing what she can, to help herself and her family

A hooker, slut, whore, prostitute, working in a songalee

But every time I see her she's always got a big smile

So I pay the bar fine and take her into my world for a while

If I was a rich man, I'd buy them all and set them free

But for now, all I can do, is give her money once a week.

The evening sky gave its initial orange glow which soon changed to gold. Jay easily convinced Tone to stop in Si Saket, and with more resistance, he coerced a more reluctant Sekott to detrain in the next town. Sekott kept suggesting that they were better off to find the cure as soon as possible and that they should travel as far as they could each day. Jay might have normally agreed with this idea, but he wasn't about to let the bizarre Mr. Sekott start making decisions for him. As the sky shifted from gold to pink and purple, they arrived at the train station, slowly rolling to a jerky stop. They stood up to get off at this station. A monk stood up to get off as well.

¤

On a straw mat, in a small Isaan village, sat a happy mother with her daughters sitting there beside her. Lamai gave a good fake smile and hid her contempt. Belle and Som hid their intentions behind their grins. Mom didn't hide her happiness and farang Frank didn't hide his lust. He put his arm around Lamai every chance he got and tried to pull her closer to him. Lamai didn't know who she was hating more right now, this smiling, fat farang or her smiling, sneaky sisters. Everybody was smiling, and so was Lamai, but her composure was as fake as the whiskey she sold.

Mer went on talking about how happy she was, and all the work on the farm that had to be done. She had no resentment for any of her children, she was just happy to have her family together. They could work, feed and sleep together again. Her red stained rotten teeth were very visible when she smiled and fat Frank thought she was hideous. He didn't care though, he wasn't going to be kissing her tonight. He stared at Lamai's breasts and licked his lips, imagining what they would feel like under his tongue. He put his hand on Lamai's thigh and gave it a squeeze. Lamai shrugged him off by standing up to go get more drinks, one of which she would drop some powder into. She was starting to feel hungry, and thinking about her next meal. She wondered what fat farang Frank's skin would feel like under her tongue.

After everyone was full and the plates and bowls had been removed, after seven large bottles of beer had been poured over glasses of ice, after Belle and Som gave Lamai and her Mer a knowing wink, Lamai led her farang gift to the house. She took him by the hand and led him up the three cement and six wooden steps that led up to her house. Lamia had insisted that the builder place nine treads for good luck, and she paused to think about the first time she led Jay up these steps. For a farang, he wasn't that bad. She knew there was some part of her that wanted him near her.

She led the dizzy bloke across the hardwood floor and into the bedroom where there was still the bed she had put there for Jay. How is Jay now? Where is he? Another stupid farang, but, cute I guess. He tried so hard to be in love with me. He would believe anything I told him.

Fat Frank put his stubby hands all over Lamai and licked her neck with his tongue. He was drunk and very sloppy in his technique. His moves were about as sexy as watching a dog eat from a garbage can, Lamai thought. The sedative was kicking in and his eyes were drooping. Lamai knew it was time and helped him onto the bed, laying him on his back. She pulled of his pants and played with his cock till it was hard. He smiled and slurred a few words which she didn't understand and didn't care about. She was getting turned on now. She was a nymphomaniac and really had to have sex often, even with unattractive old men. It didn't matter. An orgasm was an orgasm, and a meal was a meal.

His dick was hard and he was almost asleep. She pulled off her shorts and straddled this whale of a farang. She slid his stubby pole inside of herself and began to grind on it. She dug her fingers into his breasts which were bigger than her own. She became more aroused as she rode this unconscious old man. She felt herself become wetter and knew she was close to pleasure release. She grabbed a knife that she had placed on the bed. She wasn't going to worry about being clean with this one. She was going to feed deeply. She plunged the knife into his neck as she plunged her unconscious partner's penis into her welcoming hole.

Lamai extracted the knife and wrapped her mouth around the spouting wound. Warm liquid gushed into her mouth and she swallowed deep, relishing in the warm blood taste and cuming at the same time. Her pelvis shook in convulsions as she rode him to orgasm. Her body shook from the rush of the freshly spilled blood and the taste of......poison?

Something was not right. She started to spin, losing her balance, vision and hearing. Those fucking bitches! What did they put into him? Her last memory was the sight of this fat, bleeding beast below her as she collapsed onto him. His poisoned blood mixed with her own. What's happening? I have to kill those.....

Her circulatory system was slowing down. Her respiratory system began to fail. Her senses spun away from her and she was gone, into darkness she spiraled with no more control of her body. She had no more power. Everything faded.

¤

Jay, Tone and Sekott walked past a group of pushy motorcycle taxi drivers who were insisting that they be the ones to drive the trio wherever they wanted to go. One driver shouted "Tap Tap Tap!" with a devious smile and smacked his hands together to reenact a sexual slapping sound. Tone thought this sounded like a good idea. A new piece of ass meant a new muse, meant a new song. Jay led the crew towards the market ahead and told the drivers that they would walk. It was hard to get them to accept a "No." They were as persistent as a leech trying to find your feet when walking in the mud.

Jay weaved in and out of people and Tone and Sekott followed. Jay was the one calling the shots, the leader of the group. It was not as if Sekott had a single leadership bone in his body, and Tone, well, If Tone were leading, they would be in a drunken blackout and in bed all the time with new legs to dive between and not remember.

Touch followed behind the group at a distance but never lost sight of them. He attracted respectful bows and wais as he passed people, who were unaware of his un-religious-like intentions. He would let the farangs get drunker, let the streets get less crowded, let the night get darker, and then, like a cat, he would pounce.

He intended to catch them sitting down. He could cut two throats before the remaining person could react. He would use his knowledge of immobilization points to have the last farang become paralyzed and fall on the blade by his own motion. This farang would die with the murder weapon stuck in his chest with his fingerprints on it.

He would assist the dark one in killing himself, because he appeared to be the most drunk already, and probably the clumsiest. The one in the front would get it first, the one with glasses would be the second mark. Touch was calculating and precise in his preparations. He played the scene over in his head may times, considering anything that might happen, and the best hasty retreat plan. He thought about how much he hated fucking farangs, but loved his own race.

Jay found an empty concrete table in an open air market seating area. All around them were bars, shops and food vendors. A cute skinny Thai girl with long straight hair, who was dressed to turn heads, appeared at their table and took their order for beers, along with Jay and Tone's breath.

There was so much to see in any direction. Towering columns wrapped with coiling giant Chinese dragons crawling heavenward. Girls wearing blue, ruffled skirts and shirts with large, silver buttons, were coming from the nearby university ready for some evening fun. Colorful clothes, laughing children, smells of a hundred flavors, people selling lottery tickets, walking bird puppets and flashing, lighted necklaces and bracelets, all clamored for attention. Touch could easily use the confusion of this crowd to slip his knife in and out and walk away before anyone knew what had happened. He watched and bided his time.

Across the bar seating area, a man stood watching three farangs. He leaned against a light post and chewing on a chicken wing, grinding bones, cartilage and all with his teeth. He took out his mobile phone and pressed keys with greasy fingers. Lamai was not answering his calls.

¤

Belle and Som had waited a couple of hours and then went into Lamai's house to observe her condition. They saw what they expected, not just one dead body but two. The sisters were proud of their success in eliminating their sister, and her arrogant, stuck-up ways. Their celebration was short lived though, because now they had a new task at hand that they hadn't thought through. What were they going to do with the bodies? And how were they going to move this heavy, bloated farang?

The sisters easily dragged Lamai's body into the back of a pick up truck that they borrowed from their neighbor. Moving fat Frank was not so easy. They each took a leg and dragged him off of the bed with a thud, then across the floor to the front door. Belle noticed that they left a trail of poisoned blood like a paintbrush stroke from the bedroom and through the living room.

Belle yelled at Som for being stupid and Som tried to wipe up the blood with a sheet, and managed to make an even bigger blood smear on the hardwood floor. Not only was the blood implicating, but the hardwood itself was illegal to have. It was cut from trees that could get everyone in the family arrested for having this illegal wood, and now there was a bloody reason that drew more attention to it. Yes the wood was illegal in a political sense, but the repercussions of killing one of your own with the blood poison held a penalty that would have them shunned from all of their kind. They hadn't thought the exit plan out very well.

They managed to drag the heavy, limp body through the front door and down the nine steps, which were not so lucky for fat Frank nor for Lamai. Belle and Som found that they didn't have the strength to drag him up the inclined front yard though. They tried to roll his body and this too was unsuccessful. Next, they rolled him onto a straw mat and tried to drag the mat but this ripped from the heavy weight that was on it.

They found a two wheeled motorcycle cart under the house and wheeled it over to the lifeless body. With some bamboo poles as levers, they managed to get his upper half onto the cart. They used some plastic twine to tie his body to the cart with his legs dragging behind it. Belle got Lamai's motorbike and drove it over to the cart. Som lifted the handle of the cart up and Belle backed the motorcycle under it so the handle was resting on the seat.

Frank's body was not well placed over the fulcrum center of the cart, so it took Som sitting on the handle and Belle sitting on Som's legs just to keep the hearse cart in a movable position.

There was no way they could load this heavyweight into the pick up, so they took Lamai's body out of the truck and laid her across the cart handle, as extra weight to balance their unbalanced load. They finished their transport device by wrapping blankets around both Lamai and the farang's body and tying them on with more twine. Som went back into the house and put straw mats over all of the blood smears, feeling very clever about this effort.

The unbalanced body cart rolled down the road at slow speed with Belle and Som sitting on top of a load of blankets. The sisters felt very clever in their efforts to rid themselves of their spoiled sister. Lamai had surely drank enough of the farang's poisoned blood to send her to the soil, but to make sure they disposed of everything cleanly, they were driving this bundle of dead weight with the intentions of submersing it in a remote farm pond. It took a half hour of navigating dirt trails used by farm tractors before they came to the witch-doctor's house, where they knew was a special population of blood sucking annelids. There was a small amount of light visible in the window of a small bamboo shack up ahead of them. Belle drove the bike next to the edge of the pond and they got off the bike, both of them apprehensive about this step of their plan.

The dark house looked foreboding as a black silhouette against a purple, moonlit sky. This witch doctor was a mysterious old man who knew things no one else in the village did. He was reliable but unpredictable, so the sisters were afraid of what kind of mood he might be in, and afraid that they might have to perform unsavory sex acts upon him this night, depending on his twisted desires.

They reluctantly called to the house. "Hia! Hia!" No answer came so they called again, yelling his name at the house, "Hia! Hia!" The door opened and a shrouded body emerged leaning on a cane.

In Isaan language, he yelled back, "What have you brought me?"

"An offering for your pets!" Belle called back, "We have brought flesh for the feeders. May we give them this offering?"

"What else do you want?" He croaked back, suspicious of these stupid girls.

"Just to be rid of our meat that was left over after the evening meal. May we give an offering now?" Belle asked.

"What will you do for me?" He asked.

"We can do anything the Hia wants." Som proposed, feeling very afraid about what she might have to do.

"I'm tired! Do it and be gone!" he coughed, "And do not come back here again this night!"

"Thank you Hia!" Som exclaimed, and the old man went back into his house. He was not interested in anything these stupid girls had to say, but he permitted them to dump their delivery of flesh into his pond. His pets would enjoy the meal.

If the Hia knew that his own potion was what killed the girl being dumped in his pond, he would have never let this happen. He did not want to introduce this poison to his pets. It would make them tainted, un-pure creatures and cause anyone who ate them to become sick, or possibly die, if enough of the leeches were digested.

¤

Tone had made a new friend named Mint who was sitting with him at a table. She sat very close to him and put her hand on his lap, smiling cutely. Tone had a three-quarters drunken smile to shine back at her. He was not finding any words right now so he just smiled and laughed, staring at this girl who was trying to score her mark for the evening. Jay was keeping an eye on the beer bottles around them, but also was drinking enough beer to become slacked about being vigilant. He was drunk enough to not notice he was being watched, by at least five sets of eyes.

Jay took the pendant that Ajarn Santee gave him off of his neck. He held it for a moment, thinking about his monk friend and tried to send some luck into it.

"Here man." Jay said, handing the pendant to Tone. "I want you to have this.

"Wow, dawg! Thanks man!" Tone said, taking the traditional pendant that he had noticed on Jay's neck before.

"Maybe it will bring you luck and keep you alive."

"That's what's up man! I ain't dead yet, but this Leo will be soon. Cheers mother fucker!"

"Cheers!" Jay said and clinked bottles with Tone. "Tonight let's drink beer without sedatives and hangover-causing, memory-erasing drugs in it."

"Tonight let's drink with ladies who don't want to drink our red fluids but will swallow the white ones!"

Jay remembered his root stash and ate some, offering it to Tone and Sekott. Tone smiled and refused the herbal medicine, "No man, thanks! I know what I'm doing and this one is safe, except for maybe AIDS with crabs and crabs with lobsters. She definitely ain't with the mobsters." Sekott seemed to not hear Jay's offer as he spent his time peering into his phone screen.

Sekott was now obsessing with a computer game that required him to connect sticky balls of goo together, with all of the properties of physics simulated such as gravity, tensile strength and compression strength. He had become maniacally addicted to this game on the train and now was delving into the deeper levels, becoming more and more obsessed with finding an answer to the puzzles.

He didn't even seem to mind that the last fart he left was not a fart at all, and now he had a sticky ball of goo in his pants as he soiled himself. He was completely unaware that Jay had spoken to him, that there was a pretty girl at the table now, and that his beer was getting warm, sitting untouched on the hard concrete table top. Jay decided to check his emails on his phone. There was a wi-fi connection that he could pick up at this gathering center and he accessed his email in box.

>Kelly

Yes, Jay, you are a total shit for blowing me off. I know your dick speaks for you and that is too bad because I know there is so much more to you than that. You will always be my friend, but I don't know if there can ever be anything more. You hurt me badly and I am still feeling that everyday. Yes, I am the best you will ever have and you can live with the thought of blowing that.

Touch chose this moment to advance. He knew he was only hired to kill the dark farang, but he had decided for himself that he would do the others as well, simply because they were farang. Maybe he could ask for more money for doing all three, but payment wasn't crucial, as Touch didn't mind killing two of them for free. The dark one was distracted by a female and the other two farangs were staring at their phones, unaware of everything around them. Touch began to walk quickly in their direction.

A man with no name, standing across the seating area of the food court, slipped his mobile phone back in his pocket as a recorded voice went on about the number being unreachable at this moment. He could not contact Lamai to tell her that he had located the dark farang. She had agreed to pay him one thousand Baht for taking the life of this man, so he was going to seize this moment and make some cash. He needed money for his kids to get school clothes, gas for his tractor and medicine for his mother. This was easy money. All he had to do was run over, stab the dark one and run away. He could call Lamai later and let her know that the job was done and that the other farangs were in Si Saket now. Then, she could put the money in his bank account and he could buy the things he needed. He thought he would offer one hundred baht of this payment to the temple for his good luck.

Jay read on, unaware of the two bodies zeroing in on his location. He continued reading Kelly's email.

I am worried for you. I see you in visions. I remember showing you to eat soil or mud. I know that sounds weird, and I don't know what it means, but I am supposed to tell you that. I don't know why. I also had a dream of you the other night. I saw you as a traveler. You walked with a group of people. A dark man on your left was giving you a microphone. Another man on your right was giving you an apple. I felt like the apple was poison and that you shouldn't take it. There were more people, with weapons, walking behind you. I wanted to yell to you to turn around but I couldn't. I wasn't there. So watch your back and turn around....

At that moment Jay felt the irresistible urge to turn around, and as he did, a man came lunging at him. Bracing himself for the impact, Jay moved his torso lower to the ground and turned a shoulder towards the attacker. As Jay turned to duck this blow, he saw another man approaching from his left, heading towards Tone.

Tone looked up as Jay crashed into him and they both tumbled towards the ground. Jay was bracing himself to absorb the impact of the man approaching behind him as he sent Tone flailing.

All at once, Tone yelled "What the...." and as he felt himself being pushed down, he reacted by waving his arms and knocking Mint backwards. As two different attackers converged on this movement with arms flailing and legs kicking, Mint, who was falling backwards, shielded Tone's body from the extended arm of one of the attackers and knocked a knife-wielding arm away from its mark.

The man aiming for Jay's neck arrived a moment later than the other attacker, and the timing worked out perfectly for Touch to receive the blade of the other assassin. Touch felt a blade rip through his forearm and sever tendons, nerves and blood vessels. His death blow never reached its target. Instead he received a crippling blow himself.

Mint began screaming. Sekott looked up from his video game, annoyed by all the noise interrupting him. Jay took the impact of the man slamming into him but had no serious injuries from his attack. Police moved in blowing whistles. They were always on call in this area, because drunk boys and young men were likely to start fights about this time of the night.

¤

Belle and Som finished cutting all of the twine keeping their cargo attached to their cart. The fat farang and Lamai's body lay at the top of the banks of this deep pond. In the moonlight, Lamai's skin looked blue and the farang's skin appeared purple.

The top of the water in the pond boiled with movement. There were hundreds of thousands of leeches in this muddy water that the witch doctor kept for ritual, for food, and for disposal of flesh. Belle and Som had as much love for their sister as they had intelligence. They used their feet to push her body towards the steep, sloping pond's edge. Gravity took over and Lamai's body rolled down the bank and then made a splash in the water. She slowly sank into the dark muddy liquid as small invertebrates by the thousands began to attach themselves to her.

They rolled the farang into the pond next, using triple the effort to move his hulking, dead weight. He made a much bigger splash when he met the water. His body sank much faster also. Belle and Som looked at each other and smiled.

"Now what do we do?" Som asked.

"We say that the farang and Lamai took off together on her motorbike and that is the last time anyone saw them." Belle answered, feeling so clever.

"Yeah!" Som smiled, and then frowned. "But what do we do with her motorbike?"

"Oh!" Belle thought, "Yes, we need to get rid of it."

"Let's just push it into the water!" Som suggested, feeling very clever for her idea.

"Yeah!" Belle agreed, and they sent the motorbike rolling down the slope, and splashing into the water as well.

"Let's go!" Belle grinned.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Som cheered.

The two girls had a long walk home ahead of them. They took turns riding in the motorcycle cart, pushing and pulling each other, singing songs and laughing about their stupid sister.

"Now who is the smart one?" Som said.

"Yeah, now who is so clever!" Belle added.

¤

The two attackers, realizing they had fucked up, took off in a hurry, but not before they locked eyes and committed to memory each other's face. They were both as confused as the other about what had just happened. The police ran after them and more police gathered around the table of confused farangs with one screaming Thai girl. They were yelling and pointing and directing people to move away.

Jay looked back at one of the fleeing attackers. What the hell was going on?

Tone stood up yelling, "What the fuck, mother fuckers! You want a piece of this shit? I'll take on the whole army of you bitches!"

Sekott with his stinky pants, was oblivious to the danger and had no concept of what just happened. He assumed some kids were getting rowdy and bumped into their table.

The police tried to talk to Mint, the screaming Thai girl, but weren't able to until she calmed down a bit. They realized that no one at this table had done anything wrong or knew anything about the attackers. They shouted at the crowd of people to sit down and keep eating, which they did, because they were all interested in getting back to their meals. This was not unusual, for boys to fight, make a fuss, and then be forgotten. Food and beer was definitely more important. The police decided to go after the attackers and tried to trace the trail of blood that was leading away from the site of the incident.

Jay looked down at the table and saw his phone lying there with a cracked screen, remembering the message Kelly had wrote him. Through cracked glass, he saw the rest of the message that he was reading when the attack occurred.

.....when you get this message. ~Your friend, Kel.

¤

A door opened on an old bamboo shack and a dark figured poked his head out, peering around. He looked in the direction of his pond, silent in the moonlight, and mumbled to himself, "Stupid girls!"

CHAPTER 21 DISGUISED

As three unharmed farangs walked away from the would-be murder scene, Tone for disappeared. Jay, fearing the worst, but hoping his friend was just chasing skirt, set out on a frantic search for his buddy. Sekott found a toilet room and went in to clean his drawers, realizing that he had soiled himself.

Tone was dancing and swaying through a crowd of people. He forgot what they were doing and just began touring the area, smiling at girls and smelling the food stalls as he looked for more beer. His companion Mint had since gave up on the foreigner-fucking idea she previously had. Tone walked by a blind man who was sitting on a tiny stool and playing a guitar attached to a small amplifier. He was singing a song that caught Tone's ear.

Tone stopped to listen and took out all of the coins in his pocket and dropped them into the blind man's tip box. The blind man smiled when he heard the clink of change and knew that Tone had just gave him thirty three baht. He heard exactly two ten Baht coins, two five Baht pieces, a two Baht coin and a one Baht coin as well. He continued to play this song that Tone was absorbing. This is where Jay found his friend, and was relieved to see all was well.

One oblivious person, one confused person and one very drunk person gathered in a hotel bar a few blocks from where they were attacked. After the failed assailment, Jay directed drunk-ass Tone and out-of-touch Sekott to another location. He thought the walls of a public hotel would offer more protection so they sat in the lounge of the Sang Thong Hotel to regroup. Jay was really confused about what to do next. This narrow escape from being killed was beginning to become a common theme.

"I think that we need to change our plan," Jay said, "There is obviously someone following us and when they catch up to us again, we might not get so lucky. I am open to any ideas."

"I say we kill doze muver fuggers!" Tone said, "I wanna kill da fug outta dem!"

"We should probably get to Mae Sot as soon as possible," Sekott inserted. "We need to stop being bothered by all of this drinking and public exposure."

"I didn't expose my self in public!" Tone shouted, "And I am not at all bawvered at all by my drinking not at all, so I am!"

"I think Sekott is right. We need to stay out of sight if we can," Jay said, "And maybe we can change our appearance somehow."

"For now I would just like to get some sleep," Sekott said through a mouth that never seemed to close all the way. "I think that this hotel should be safe."

"OK. Let's all stay here and tomorrow, we will get some kind of disguise and get away as far as we can, by bus may be better," Jay responded.

"Yeah man! Let's dress up like the Men in Black meet Doctor Doofuss!" Tone said laughing. Sekott didn't get it that he was the doofuss.

During the night, every one of the travelers slept safely but had dreams visit their slumber. Jay dreamed that he was walking through an empty town, at night, somewhere in Thailand. There were no people or dogs or anything moving in this town. The shop doors were all rolled down and everything was dark. He walked down the center of the street, looking for someone. A figure appeared ahead, it was Lamai. He walked up to her because she did not move. When he was next to her, he saw that her skin looked a bluish and pale. She looked sick. She offered her neck to him. Jay instinctively bit into her flesh and sucked blood from her. He woke up startled, not quite back in his body, which was shaking from the separation.

Tone dreamed he was on stage at a hip hop show. He had a mic in his hand and was going up to perform next. As he walked out onto the stage, he greeted every one with, "Peace and blessings all you beautiful people." Instead of cheers or holler-backs, the crowd was silent. Tone noticed that they all looked pale and had dark rings around their eyes. They were not his peeps. This was not the usual crowd. There were no beats pumping that he could freestyle to. He said into the mic, "OK then, peace and blessings all you blood sucking muther fuckers?" He said this as a question which got no reply. The crowd started moving towards him and he started to back up. He dropped the mic which made a screeching noise through the amps when it hit the ground. The crowd started moving in on him fast and he turned to run. Then, he woke up. "What the Fu....?"

Sekott was dreaming that he was in a busy Thai city. He reasoned that he was in Mae Sot. There was a temple ahead of him and he followed some people into it. A farang walked up to him and asked, "Are you Jay?"

Sekott looked at him and said, "Yes."

"I have something for you." he said as he handed Sekott a brief case. The farang looked at him as if he were expecting something in return.

Sekott said, "Kop khun Kop," which was thank you, in Thai, and then he handed the man a stack of money. The man ran off and Sekott went to a secluded corner of the temple to inspect the contents of the briefcase.

He opened the case to find a multitude of syringes, all labeled and color coded. The labels were written in English and contained the words like, Love, Hope, Sadness, Decrease and Increase. Sekott took a syringe labeled Hope and injected it into his arm. He instantly felt a rush and an empowered feeling. A light came down from the high ceiling above and enveloped his body.

He heard God's voice speak to him. "You must go forth and eradicate the undesirables."

"I will follow your holy command!" He said, he took a syringe labeled sadness and looked around at the people in the temple. He was looking for some one to inject with it when he awoke.

¤

The nameless farmer/assassin continued to try to call Lamai. The phone kept repeating an 'out of service' message. He had things to tell her. He had to tell her that the farangs were in Si Saket. He had to tell her that the dark one was still alive, and on the move still. He wanted to tell her that he really needed the money and that he would find the farang again and complete the job. He wanted to beg her not to give the job to someone else. He could easily kill anybody for food, but this job meant money, something he did not have.

Another paid killer by the name of Touch lay under a tree, close to collapse. He was afraid to go to the hospital because the police may be waiting there. He tried to tie his arm shut and stop the bleeding but much of his blood had already drained from his body. He felt the big sleep coming. He managed to place a call to his director, and report the failure to complete the objective.

The boss was not pleased. Touch was chastised and dismissed. All he could do know was let the regenerative process begin. He knew that he would not die, unless someone was sent to drain him. If he was undisturbed, he could enter the deep sleep, and in a few days, emerge alive and recharged.

The Pee Doot Lewat could lose up to ninety percent of their blood and still recover. Their blood was extremely regenerative and resilient. The only way to truly kill a Pee Doot Lewat was to completely destroy their body or completely drain their fluid. Another way to kill them was to introduce the poisoned blood of a normal human or other creature.

Only the mages knew of this possibility. They knew how to concoct an herbal mixture of roots, flowers, berries, nuts and the ashes of a burned Pee Doot Lewat body. It was a deadly granola bar of sorts, that did not harm the being who ate it, but caused their blood to become a toxic cocktail to the drinker of that person's blood. The blood of the Pee Doot Lewat would absorb the compounds in the poisoned blood they drank, and their own blood would become toxic to their own body. Only a witch doctor had the old wisdom to create this, a witch doctor like the one who made a tonic for Belle and Som to use.

¤

A witch doctor walked through the moonlight, leaning on his cane for support. He spoke to the moon as he walked, thanking it for its presence, its power and its protection. He had allowed a couple of stupid girls to dispose of their rubbish in his pool of life-drinking worms. This pool of parasitic, blood-drinking organisms required frequent contributions of fresh flesh. The shaman known as the Hia saw to it the worms were always fed.

The villagers feared and respected this mysterious member of the community. He did not converse with monks, nor police, nor government officials. He was a source for superstitious farmers to visit for medicine, magic, removal of magic, love charms, death charms, protection charms, charms for money and charms for sex. His house was filled with herbs and plants hanging drying, as well as dried animals such as lizards, frogs, snakes, birds and other flying and crawling creatures.

What religion, medicine or science could not do, the witch doctor could. Although it was frowned upon to visit the Hia, people would do it in secret, for their own secret purposes and desires. The Hia walked over to inspect his living pool. He did not hear a motorbike leave, but he had heard one arrive. He saw wheel tracks leading into the pond. "Stupid girls!" he grumbled.

¤

Jay beat on the door of Tone's room until he woke up. Jay was an early-riser and Tone was a late-sleeper. Today, Tone would force himself to go along with Jay's idea, but he was starting to think he should just get on a plane to anywhere else. Maybe in Bangkok, we will part ways. He was not in any need of a cure for anything, and he was in even less need of a knife in his back or a blood sucking bitch on his skin. Sekott was ready and anxious to get moving. He too was fearful of being killed, but the dream from the previous night had fueled his desire to cure himself and try and start an epidemic across the Southeast Asian nations.

Sekott was starting to feel the hunger within himself grow, but he used the faith in his most holy, righteous creator to abstain from the thoughts of putting filth in his mouth. As his hunger grew and his mental faculties receded, the religion he knew became the back drop for his twisting reality.

Jay was also feeling the hunger grow within his being. This morning he was craving some food with fresh blood on it. He let his thoughts drift to wondering where he could find a Laap restaurant, and order some boiled meat mixed with onions, lime, garlic and mint and smothered in fresh, uncooked blood. Jay continued to eat the herbs and foods that suppressed this hunger, but their effect was waning.

Jay grasped his single remaining pendant tightly and envisioned a successful, safe, speedy trip to Mae Sot for a cure. When this was over, and he was OK, he thought of returning stateside to see Kelly, and thank her for her timely insight and precognitive dreams. He believed it may be time to leave the land of smiles, the sweet young rentable girlfriends, the inexpensive and delicious, spicy food, the relaxed regulations, the laid-back culture, the gossip, the liars, and most of all, the crazy people trying to kill him.

At a morning market in town, Jay had gone early and bought old, used clothing and Isaan farm hats. When he had gathered later with Sekott and Tone, he distributed the gear and the three foreigners dressed up like Isaan farmers. They wore long pants and long sleeved shirts, farm gloves and shoes to cover the color of the skin of their feet. The last accessory was the Isaan farmer hat, which had a wrap around shroud that covered the face and neck. The only part of the farang that was visible was the eyes and the skin around it. Tone wore an Isaan style knit cap, which was similar to a crocheted ski mask knit cap. He had less than a couple square inches of visible farangness. This, Jay was hoping, would look so common place that no one would notice any of them, except maybe for Tone trying to suck beer through hat fabric. Tone did not like the fact that his hat did not have a drinking hole in it.

Three shrouded farangs boarded a bus at the bus station in Si Saket with a ticket to the city of Surin. Jay thought it would be a good idea to change their clothes and their buses often. They could change in Surin, Srikhorapom, Buri Rum and Khorat. From Khorat, they could get a mini-bus to Bangkok. In Bangkok, they could blend in with the farang crowds of Khao Sawn road and relax. They could plan the last leg of their trip to Mae Sot, and maybe have a little fun. That was a big maybe.

Touch lay under a tree, deep in an unconscious coma-like sleep. He was along side a farm road by an irrigation ditch, out of the way of most people. His blood cells were starting to divide at an accelerated pace and his body was repairing itself. As he slept, mosquitoes took a tiny portion of him away, flies sucked at his skin and a couple of dogs also licked on his arm.

The other killer, who had bungled his job, got drunk on a bottle of lao khao rice whiskey, all alone, by himself. He could not reach the lady who said she would pay him, he could not find the person he was there to kill. He did not have any money to give to his family. He was looking very angry, sad and frustrated. He got drunker and decided to find someone to feed on, and at least bring some blood back for his family.

¤

An old Isaan woman worked in her garden, pulling weeds, planting seeds, sucking on betel nuts and worrying about her daughter Lamai. Belle and Som were working in the next field over, cutting tobacco and stringing the leaves on racks to dry. The rice had all been cut, de-hulled and stored away in large, nylon sacks.

It was turning towards spring in Isaan, which meant that it was getting hotter and that rains would not be ignoring the land much longer. Mer wondered if her daughters knew more than they were telling her. She was so happy when they had all got back together. But she wondered why that same night of the family reunion, her other daughter Lamai disappeared.

Belle and Som said that they had not seen Lamai since she went with the farang they brought home for her. Lamai, the farang and her motorbike had been gone ever since the night of the get-together. Mer knew Lamai was a wanderer, that she was very independent and that she did what she wanted. She was probably just traveling and being entertained by this farang and his money. Mer thought that Lamai was probably just sucking whatever money and blood she could from the foreigner. But still, something didn't seem quite right to her.

¤

The bus ride from Si Saket to Surin was uneventful. The three farangs were not nearly as disguised as they thought they were. From a distance, they would not raise any red flags, but on the bus, old ladies, their daughters, and sons, whispered to each other about the three odd farangs dressed like farmers.

The people thought that they must have wives in the area and worked on a farm, but why would they wear their gloves on the bus? In Surin, the three costumed and concealed strangers changed buses. They were on a bus that had at least twenty more passengers than seats and the aisle was full of standing people from front to back. Jay, Tone and Sekott were among those standing in the aisle. Their customized farmer uniforms did more to make them stand out than if they were dressed normally.

This was a spectacle and something to speculate about. Lucky for them, they had lost the people that were tailing them, and now they were just three, strange, masked-farangs riding a bus together, instead of being three typical farangs. Jay's plan for disguises had not concealed their presence, but it did hide their identity.

The bus stopped again at a station in Srikorapom. The weird foreigner farmers got off the bus and walked down the town's surprisingly clean streets, looking for a place to eat and a place to by new old-clothes. Sekott suggested that they try a different style of disguise. He didn't like dressing like one of these poor, ignorant farm-devils. He suggested that they could dress like katoi lady-boys.

Tone offered that Sekott could dress up to the tune of his own fantasy, but Tone was sticking to the gangster/farmer gig. So, Sekott got dolled up, bringing out of him a side he had never shown, or consciously known about before. He looked like a scary, drag-queen with bad taste in clothes, or one of the fat, hairy, lady-boys that didn't put much effort into the lady part of lady-boy. Tone and Jay bought different clothes but kept to the same, clandestine, farmer theme. They exchanged a few looks with each other when they saw Sekott appear, looking like a bad, feminine horror-movie.

Together, they ate some papaya salad and sticky rice and knocked back a few beers in the part of town with the largest food vendor concentration. Tone rolled his hat up to his forehead so that his beer hole was accessible. The typical Isaan farmer hat covered the mouth with a shroud, or the entire hat could be like a full-face ski hat with openings only for eyes. This was not a feature that Tone was down with. It was a major beer restrictor.

"Sekott," Tone said, "I think you are coming down with Zackly disease!"

"What?" Sekott said indignantly, wondering how much Tone knew about his condition and was feeling especially paranoid.

"Yeah man. Your face looks zackly like your ass!" Tone cajoled.

Tone put forth the idea that they could just stay in this town and get wasted, already forgetting that they were almost murdered not so long ago. Sekott was insistent on deferring this idea and Jay suggested that they ride to the next town because by then it would be dark and easier to remain disguised. They could find a building that had walls and stay out of open-aired arrangements.

Sekott had lobbied for traveling through the night, but Jay and Tone had overruled him. He did not have much influence on the group, especially dressed the way he was. He followed his group off the bus again in Buri Rum, going against his agenda. Do I really need to be with these two at all? I could go look for the red farang myself, but would the red farang talk to me? I could say that I am Jay, and maybe get the cure before he arrived. What connection did that monk, Ajarn Santee have with the red farang? He wondered deviously to himself and plotted to make things happen to his own liking.

This was such a cryptic mission, but everything in Asia was always different than what foreigners were used to. Sekott considered that Jay might be a crucial link to getting the cure, and he was still a link to his brother if it came to that. Sekott was getting more and more impatient, more and more fanatical, more and more driven by obsession. His body and mind had changed more than he was aware of.

Sekott had been biting his inner cheek often enough to draw blood from it. He almost always had the taste of blood in his mouth from unconsciously chewing on this wound. He didn't realize he was doing it, and he didn't see the irony in the fact that he was being driven to destroy that which he was becoming.

In Buri Ram, it was possible for the crew to mix in with other farangs, although Sekott stood out like a sore, transvestite thumb. They found a bamboo- hut, enclosed bar and felt like it was a good place to relax a little. The girls working there spoke some English and the menu listed a genuine cheese pizza, or the closest thing to Italian pizza available in Buri Rum. Tone and Jay were in concurrence about ordering this item.

They were both missing things that game them comfort, and food was definitely one of them. No mater how delicious a Thai meal was, it could still leave an empty feeling in the stomach of a foreigner, because the familiar tastes that trigger endorphins were not there.

Sekott washed off his make up and wore a hat instead. He was growing annoyed with the continual joking that Jay and Tone were throwing towards him. He didn't mind dressing like a lady. Instead, he found it empowering. Other Thai lady-boys who saw Sekott gave him the, 'who the fuck are you' look, but he had not noticed. He considered that he would like to try dressing up like this again, when there was not a barrage of ridicule nearby. Jay and Tone hit Sekott up for another cash installment, which Sekott supplied. They all bought some new clothing and accessories, and just tried to look like different farangs than they usually looked like. Because they were constantly being referred to as a potato, it was no pun that they were just trying to look like the common tater.

The spud trio met back at the bamboo bar, which had walls of bamboo to conceal them from the outside street. They flirted with the waitresses and threw back more beers, Jay and Tone did anyhow. Sekott was now obsessing on a game on his phone where he saw the hand of god smashing demon figures, even though he was really just playing 'whack-a-mole'. He had a contorted grin on his face and an open mouth the whole time he played. Jay and Tone gave occasional disapproving shakes of the head when they noticed Sekott acting weirder and weirder.

"Cheers to beers!" Tone said holding up his bottle as an invitation to get clinky with it. Jay returned the motion and Sekott stared into his computer screen, disengaged from social goings on.

In this neck of the Siam woods, things were a little different than the rest of Isaan. People ate more regular rice than sticky rice, more rice was planted and harvested by machines than by hand, the Khmer architecture was more noticeable in the houses and temples, and Weht Mon Dam, or, Magic Black, was a more common practice.

The Thai people blamed anything that was unexplainable, such as black magic, as a curse created by the Cambodians. The Cambodians living and working in the area blamed it on the Thais, and the Laos people blamed it on the ghosts. If you knew a local witch doctor, you could buy protection or a curse to kill someone, heal someone, or anything in between. A local version of the voodoo doll was a popular technique. Love potions were hand made for farang and Thai alike. Farangs paid double of course.

Along with the practice and availability of black magic, was the human slave trade. Human trafficking had carved a route through this area, particularly to bring abducted or purchased Cambodian girls into Thailand to sell them as sex slaves or as workers. There are far more females than males living in Cambodia today, thanks to Pol Pot killing off most of the men. Unfortunately, this excess of female population was sadly being exploited by men that have dark souls.

Jay and Tone discovered the different sounding language when they ducked into a red-door massage parlor. The girls there sounded different, looked a little different, and some were uncomfortably young looking. Sekott did not see this because he went to an internet cafe to further research katoi clothing styles. Jay and Tone decided they would be safe, tucked into some small cubicle of a massage shop, very concealed from the public eye. They hoped, who ever was trying to kill them, was not a young masseuse.

Tone enjoyed a massage from a girl that he was pretty sure was more than twenty. Jay thought about just leaving this place, but he thought it was better to stay hidden and together with Tone. He decided to just get a massage, a straight, therapeutic, relaxing massage. He was pretty sure that at least some of the girls must have an actual massage license if they worked there, not just the ability to compose a happy ending.

Jay warned Tone not to drink anything that the shop offered if it was in an opened container. He also warned him to avoid any of their little sniff kissing that they do. Jay had the idea that this sniff kissing was a form of black magic that girls used to charm and dominate their prey. Tone had a full bottle of Leo with him that he bought on the way at a little shop. He told Jay not to worry.

Tone had his pants off three minutes into his massage. Jay lie on his back and closed his eyes, enjoying the kneading of his calf muscles that the masseuse was giving him. He chose the oldest and ugliest lady of all the girls, thinking she would be experienced, safe and less likely to offer sex. Jay started to drift off as the tension in his legs was released from the massage and the mentholated balms she was applying.

¤

Not far from where Touch was lying comatose under a tree, a hunched over figure was devouring a carcass of a dead dog. This filth eating beast was half-mad and the other half was crazed with hunger. He excitedly tore a leg from the rotting carrion and began to suck the decaying flesh from it. He chewed through the rancid skin and salivated down his chin and neck. He slurped up soft, bacterial-ridden tissues into his mouth like a frat boy drinking jello shots. He had chased the crows away from this rotten meal when he found it, scouring at them with his twisted, blood-shot eyes.

Shunned from the villages and the towns, this person, or this thing, referred to as a Pee Bom, survived by eating rotten and decaying things. He could be considered a decomposer of sorts. He moved at night, and hid in dark forested areas during the day. Drinking the blood of the living was not necessary for him to exist. As he chewed and gnawed on this filthy find, he smelled something else. He stopped and looked up, sniffing the air.

He had the scent of something near death. He was smelling the half dead man, Touch. He grabbed the rotting dog by one of its legs and ran in the direction of this smell, dragging his rotten find behind him. Lying under a tree, he found a being that was not moving. He poked it to see if it was alive. It didn't move. He smelled it all over. It was not dead, but it was not conscious either.

This was a much better score than the rotting carcass of the dog. He dropped the dog and looked around in all directions. There was nobody in sight. This would be his prize discovery of the week. There was no one else there to claim it. He hunched over, deciding where to start eating first. He used his sharp dirty fingernails to tear into the abdominal flesh and pulled out warm, soft entrails.

He easily opened up the cavity containing the organs. Blood flowed over his hands and he became orgiastic with hunger. He ate the liver first, then the heart and the kidneys. The organs were so soft and easy to swallow. They hardly needed chewing. They slid down his throat with ease as he feasted.

He would not eat everything tonight. He would take his fill and then bury the rest, to feed on again and again. Touch did not heal and revive in time before his vulnerable incarnation was discovered by this manure-loving creature, who had found possibly the best meal of his life, an unconscious Pee Doot Lewat.

This was not mere subsistence to the Pee Bom, he would gain the physical power and the regenerative ability of his feast. The zombie-like creature ate his fill and then dragged the remains away, to hide it in the soft soil, where it would become more tender, more rotten, and more delicious.

CHAPTER 22 EQUALS ZERO

"Ice! Ice!" The Hia called out to his helper. "Ice! Come here now!" From a small bamboo house near Hia's shack, a door opened and a hulking, obese, teenage boy came out wearing a shirt full of holes and a grubby, dirty pair of shorts, and no shoes.

"Hia?" Ice asked, "What is it, Hia?"

"Ice! Bring your oversized body over here," Hia said, "I need your help!"

Ice lumbered over to Hia who was standing next to the pool of feeders. Ice was as large as three regular sized Thai boys. He was a dimwitted orphan that Hia took care of and fed and abused as he saw fit. Ice did anything the Hia asked of him, even when it meant doing something unpleasant.

"Ice!" Hia called out, "Get the rope and come here." Ice found a shovel and started towards Hia. "No! You buffalo ass! Rope! Rope! Big string!" Hia yelled, and Ice looked around confused. "For make buffalo no go away!"

Ice smiled and set down the shovel and went to the farm shed. He returned with a rope, smiling very excitedly. "Hia, Buffalo no go!" He said handing Hia the rope.

"Motorsai in water," Hia explained, "Give rope motorsai." Ice stood there looking confused. Hia pointed to the tire track and then pointed to the water, "motorsai swimming, Ice swim with motorsai!" Hia demanded.

"Oh no! Hia! Ice swimming die for sure!" Ice protested.

Hia hit him with the rope and pointed to the water again. "Swimming! Now!" Ice crawled down the bank of the pond with the rope. When he reached the waters edge, he looked back at Hia with a very worried look on his face.

"Swimming, now!" Hia called, "Make motorsai same-same, buffalo no go!"

Ice took all these words together into his walnut brain and pictured a motorsai tied to a stick in the field so it could not get away but could still eat. Ice wondered why would a motorsai want to eat rice stalks. He also knew that a motorsai can not run away, so he wondered why did the Hia want to tie it up in the field.

Not understanding, but knowing he must obey, he reluctantly stepped into the water with the leeches he feared would eat him. He was not afraid of eating a bowl full of these blood worms, but he knew what went into the pond never came out. Leeches did not eat motorcycles. He wondered why Hia would put a motorcycle in the water.

Ice felt something solid when he walked into the water. Leeches began to attach themselves to his legs every where. He grabbed what he thought was a motorcycle handle bar and tied the rope to it. "Come here, Ice!" Hia yelled at him. Ice waded out of the water and crawled back up the bank. When he reached the top, he hurriedly pulled the leeches off of his legs and bare feet. Hia never saw shoes that were large enough for Ice's Neanderthal feet, so he never got him a pair.

Ice slapped and pulled at the black worms sucking on his legs and squealed in panic. Hia leaned over and touched his hands to Ice's legs. Ice felt his skin turning hot. The leeches began to shrivel and smolder and they all fell to the ground like leaves from an autumn tree. Ice breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Hia!" he bowed and waied repeatedly, "Thank you! Thank you!"

"Ice, pull motorsai up!" Hia barked and mimed a pulling motion.

Ice understood and shook his head wildly, "OK! Can! Can!" and he pulled on the rope with a jerk. Ice fell backwards, as the load was not as heavy as a motorbike, and a small girl's leech covered body came splashing out of the water and on to the slope of the bank. Hia looked in consideration at what he was seeing.

"Stupid buffalo!" Hia yelled, "This is not a motorsai!"

Ice stood back up and looked down the bank. He saw a small woman's body, black with worms covering it. "Bring it here!" Hia commanded. Ice pulled on the rope and dragged her up the bank. Hia hit Ice on the head with his cane. "Go carry her!" Ice slid down the bank and picked up the muddy writhing mass of worms and body. He awkwardly brought her to the top of the bank and lay her down, then began hurriedly picking the leeches off of himself again.

Hia bent over and put his hands on this tiny female's form. Like Ice's legs, the leeches all shriveled, burned and fell from her skin. Her body had thousands of little, bleeding cuts all over it from the parasitic feast. Hia placed his hand on her chest, closed his eyes for a moment and then stood up.

"Ice!" he shouted, "Take girl house Hia!" Ice shook his large round head and picked the girl up. He carried her to the Hia's house carefully like a basket of eggs. Hia stood there pointing towards his house to make sure his pea-brained servant understood. Hia had pondered if it was to be, to bring her back. She came out of the water. That had never happened in the two hundred years Hia had grew this pond. Since she came out of the water, there must be a reason. No one ever came out of the water. Hia would retreat to the spirit world and try to find out why.

¤

Tone was in a drunken bliss. He lie on his back on a massage mat, with a pair of hands busy massaging his leg, his third leg. Her name was Nang or Nong or Neng or something, Tone didn't care. He hummed the tune he had stuck in his head while she kept him hard and semi-awake, for now. Tone let his maleness be in the mercy of his masseuse.

She worked at him with sloppy movements that she saw in a movie and tried to recreate. All the girls working here had to watch farang porn and try to perform like the girls in the video, as well as learn the English phrases that farang men wanted to hear.

"I love you, insert name here."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Can I be your girlfriend?"

"You are so handsome!"

"I don't like Thai men, only insert nationality here, men."

"I am 18 years old."

"You are very strong!"

"I can love you long time!"

Jay was hanging on to the edge of the dream world as he relaxed into his therapeutic massage. He was worried about what lie ahead. He was worried that he had brought Tone into dangerous situations so many times now. He thought he would ask Tone to leave when they reached Bangkok, and go back to somewhere Safeville, America.

Jay was hoping to find the cure soon. He was worried about the hunger that was growing stronger within him. He was thinking about eating some of the foods that the farmers ate. Maybe it would be OK to just eat once a week. Maybe it would make the pain go away.

His stomach had that feeling that a person gets when his stomach is empty, except it came with the pain of the dry heaves. Any food or drink didn't seem to make it subside. He was trying to hide this from Tone and Sekott. He didn't want Tone to see him as a threat. I would never hurt my friend, would I? If Sekott sees a change in me, will he try to exploit even more? As he was about to fall asleep with these thoughts, the old lady massaging him grabbed his dick.

Sekott had been fighting his hunger pains by sheer, driven willpower and by the taste he got from biting his cheek. Sekott sat at an internet terminal eating a bowl of plump leeches and looking at katoi pictures online. He loved the femininity of these men. Could I ever be that beautiful? He wondered if he was having side effects from the poison in his veins.

He had never had any feelings before about dressing up like a woman. Why am I now? He thought. I will not be Satan spawn. This is evil! He bit his cheek harder and sucked the bloody saliva in his mouth down his throat. He popped some more leeches in his mouth and all the while he couldn't stop staring at the images of the katoi. He didn't even notice that he had just bought leeches and was now chewing them up and eating them.

Tone had fallen asleep and the girl massaging his phallus felt it growing limp. She backed up and took it in her mouth applied suction until it was hard again. She felt the length of it in her mouth, exploring all of its textures with her tongue. She used the tip of her tongue to probe it for veins. When she found a healthy feeling vein, she began to get excited.

Nung, as she was called at work here, used her teeth to open the silver ball of her tongue piercing jewelry. The ball contained a small razor-sharp scalpel tip. Now her tongue exposed an instrument as sharp as a surgical tool. She was ready to use it to cut into Tone's schlong when Jay burst through the door running towards his passed out friend. At that moment Tone began to pee in his sleep. Nung got a mouth full of urine instead of the blood she was craving, as she fell back to avoid his stream.

"Wake the fuck up man!" Jay yelled, "We gotta get outta here now!" Tone stirred a little and his eyes opened slightly. "Something's fucking wrong here! We gotta go now!" Jay yelled again, "Tone! Tone! Wake the fuck up!"

Jay ran over and shook Tone awake. Outside in the hallway there were men yelling and ladies screaming. Jay tried to pull Tone to his feet and Nung wrapped a sarong around herself quickly. "Dude, you're butt fucking naked, what the hell?" Jay said as he felt the wetness of the piss soaked bed soak through his jeans and dampen his skin where he knelt. "Get some fucking clothes on!" Jay yelled as Tone tried to sit up and open his eyes.

Jay heard a voice in the hallway on a two way radio say, "Tao gop soon."

Two men in army fatigues burst through the door as Jay was frantically trying to rouse Tone. The soldiers headed straight for Nung and dragged her out of the room by her arms as she tried to resist without success. The men did not seem to notice or care about the farangs in the room.

Tone opened his eyes and grinned and sleepily asked, "Where dall da bitches go?"

Jay replied, "Get dressed Tone, this place is being raided. We gots to go, NOW!"

There was a regiment of a dozen men with two-way radios and dogs corralling all of the women at the massage parlor into the front room. There were two army transport vehicles parked in the front of the building. The soldiers used dogs to smell each of the girls.

The army had occasionally made raids to remove Pee Doot Lewat from the public centers. Usually the raids were made to detain and deport Laos, Cambodian or Burmese people working in the country illegally, or to seize drugs, human slaves and counterfeit products. This time, the effort was paid for by the mayor of the city, who was trying to clean up his streets a little. This meant that he wanted to get new workers in place that would enable him to control the flow of money more to his liking.

Tone and Jay slipped out a backdoor and ran down the alley. The soldiers watching them go laughed at the stupid farangs that they weren't going to chase. They wondered if all farangs were really stupid, and decided, yes, they must be. Farangs were good for Thailand in one way, the transfer of wealth from their wallets to local pockets.

Soldiers had occupied the entire city block and were surrounding the massage shop buildings on it. There were soldiers in full camo and other special unit forces wearing black shirts with white printing showing the equals symbol and a zero, labeled on the back. 'Equals Zero' was a special operative that tried to copy the Western campaign called 'zero tolerance'.

One of the transport trucks outside was full of detained, older boys. This Army unit was busy tonight. They had just collected a group of Pee Doot Lewat gang members at a drug house on the outskirts of town.

The German shepherds that the army used were trained to smell the difference between the two bloodlines. No matter how much mouthwash, chewing gum, garlic or fish sauce they put into their mouths, all people of this bloodline had a death breath that dogs could easily detect, and humans could with a little familiarity. The mayor preferred to have his own drug runners, assassins and call girls in place than the current lot. Tonight's effort would assist this campaign greatly, and it sent a signal to the public, that Buri Rum was not a safe haven for blood-runners.

It was not an easy thing to know who was and who wasn't Pee Doot Lewat in general. Every one looked the same, villagers tended to stay in their villages, and there was a complete lack of records of families and individuals. The powers that be, tolerated this phenomenon just like they tolerated prostitution, drugs, counterfeiting, transgenderism and human slaves. When corruption is paramount, everything below it is rained on by the same dirty water.

Jay and Tone stopped running after a block because Tone decided to sit down on the curb and take a rest. "I can't believe that just happened," Jay said, "No one tried to kill or arrest us!"

"Yo, that's whatsup!" Tone replied, "So sit down and quit running man. Shit, I could've probably just stayed there and got some sleep."

"What the fuck was going on back there?" Jay asked heatedly, "They were rounding everyone of the girls up and it looked like they were putting them in trucks, and holy shit man, that old lady grabbed my dick, and then I heard people coming and I heard them say equals zero in Thai and I thought we were going to get killed, and so I ran to find you and.."

"Whoa man! Come down!" Tone requested, "You need to chill the fuck out and smoke a fatty!"

Tone and Jay turned to see what had just happened behind them. They saw two soldiers walking down the alley toward them. Tone was too tired to get up and run again. He was drunk and drugged and was not going to remember any of this.

Jay thought about running but would not leave Tone behind so he just waited to see what misfortune might be coming their way now. The soldiers walking toward them stopped and lit up a cigarette and began talking. Tone took that as a queue to light up also.

The soldiers took out a hand rolled cigarette and lit that up too. They passed this cigarette back and forth. Tone seeing this yelled to them in Thai, asking, "Do you have enough to share?"

"Maa laew!" One soldier called back to him and told him to come here.

Tone and Jay walked over to the soldiers and one of them asked, "Can you smoke, gan-jah?"

"Does an old man poop his pants when he pees?" Tone replied.

Instead of getting killed or arrested, tonight, Jay and Tone would smoke sweet leaves with army soldiers without any repercussions.

After enjoying a little stress-relieving massage and relaxing medicine for their heads, Jay and Tone went to a hotel near the bamboo bar and got three rooms. They called Sekott to let him know where they were staying. Sekott said that he would be their soon, after he finished looking at research online.

Sekott was still researching lady-boy images online. He was being confused by his thoughts, Do I want to be katoi? Do I want to try a katoi? Is the bad blood in my veins warping me? Is the cure going to be in Mae Sot or will I still need the help of a geneticist? Is Jay not telling me something? Is he plotting to kill me? Is Tone really a human, or is he trying to keep me infected? Why has no one brought true religion to this Godless land? Sekott's thoughts taunted him into paranoia.

¤

A broken girl lay on a bamboo table in the center of Hia's dusty, old, primitive house. Ice was sitting on the floor in a corner. The Hia was walking around the girl in a clockwise circle, studying her body in the dim candle light. Lamai looked like she had been shot by a shotgun because of the many, tiny, bleeding holes all over her body. Her hair was muddy and caked with debris. Her contorted body was very frightening to Ice. He wanted to run back to his shack but he had to stay here because the Hia commanded him. Why did the Hia want me to bring the girl here? She is not a motorcycle or a buffalo. Ice wondered.

The Hia put his hands on the forehead of the discarded tiny woman and closed his eyes. His senses drifted to a darkness that contained a pulsing rhythm like a heart beat. The beat was steady and strong and was growing in volume. The Hia saw himself in a long skinny boat drifting through the darkness guided by this sound. The boat was beginning to move faster toward the heart beat and wind whistled by the Hia's face.

The heart beat picked up the tempo, increasing in its tempo. The boat plunged through a dark space. The heartbeat grew to a constant hum because it had become so fast. Downward the Hia fell in the boat, seeing nothing but the darkness around him. Then, the hum stopped. The boat floated slowly on a gentle stream. The wind became a soft breeze, humid and earthy smelling. The heartbeat slowed to a droning pulse. Hia was now in the underworld, after following the introspective, ethereal river that led him there with the drum beat of the cosmos.

The boat ran aground on a sandy shore and Hia stepped out. He felt soft wet sand under his feet. He needed no cane to lean on here, his body was only an object of memory, yet he retained the image of it. The Hia walked towards the sound of the thumping drumming beat again. Ahead of him he could see the glow of lights from fireflies. The fireflies swirled into a mass and lit a trail in front of him. Hia walked on this trail until a thick humid mist surrounded him. The firefly glow became barely visible. The mist obscured his view. Hia reached inside his being for power. With the single focused word "OPEN," Hia shouted and the mist was gone. He felt himself fully assert his presence here, and the spirits here would abide. He brought to mind the image of the girl's face.

An opening in a cave appeared ahead of him. A strong light broke the darkness and poured out of the cave. Hia walked up to the cave entrance and peered in. As if he was watching reality from a hole in the sky, he saw a scene unfold before him in the cave. He saw a monk with a many-colored, godly being floating above him. This monk had a snake's tail in one hand. The snake was stretched out and a white skinned, dark-haired man was holding its head. This man had the tail of another snake in his other hand, and this snake's head was held by another man, of white-skin and blonde hair. This man also held the tail of a snake, and a dark-skinned small girl held the head. This chain of humans and snakes curved around to form an arc. All at once, all of the hands released the snakes and they fell to the ground.

The snakes slithered away from the people and then began to change shape. They turned into two hulking shadow-like beings and descended on the dark skinned girl standing there. The shadows completely covered the figure of the girl and then, as they pulled away, the girl was gone and two leeches were on the ground where she had been standing.

One of the leeches split into two and the bleeding pieces crawled over to the two light skinned men. The leeches crawled up their bodies and when they reached the forehead of each man, the burrowed inward and disappeared. They left a wisp of smoke as they entered the skulls of the humans. A single drop of blood remained as the wisp of smoke dissipated.

The dark shadows that left the girl's figure flew to the monk and were swallowed by his open mouth. The single leech that remained on the ground began to split and multiply. In a slow and eerie motion, the leeches multiplied like bacteria and grew to take on the shape of a human, completely comprised of leeches. It stood as one being, strong and firm.

One of the men took the hand of the other man and they walked over to the leech being. They held its hands and formed a circle of three. They began to move closer and they held in an embrace. The men kissed and caressed the black leech body and became sexual in their movements. Then, the dark haired man and the light haired man struggled over a knife that suddenly appeared.

As they fought each other to gain control, the dagger pierced the twisting, wormy effigy in the area of its heart. The being howled and exploded into a million drops of blood spraying itself in all directions and covering everyone with red. The monk opened his mouth wide and a giant ball of flame surrounded the two men and encased their bodies. In this fiery prison, their bodies were not visible. When the flames withdrew, they were gone. The monk reached down and picked up a single piece of a leech. He held it and wept, and then, the whole scene disappeared.

Hia opened his eyes and looked down at the broken female. He understood his vision and, in his interpretation, it was not good for this girl to have died. He now needed to bring her back.

"Ice!" Hia spoke leaving his trance. "Go now!" Ice was very glad to hear this and he hopped up and humped out of the shack. Ice went back to his house, crawled inside and locked the door, jumped onto his sleeping mat and pulled a blanket over his head. He was so glad that he could get away from the scary monster that came out of the pond. He was also happy that the Hia would not make him do unpleasant things this night.

The Hia began placing items in a mortar and began chanting in a Crowley-like fashion. He added different dried plants and animal parts, ashes, a handful of fat, juicy leeches and lastly, he used a knife to cut the flesh of his wrist and let blood flow into the bowl. He took the pestle and mashed everything into a paste, all the while chanting incantations and speaking with the spirits.

After mashing this paste together for fifteen minutes, he then used a large green leaf to spread this paste all over the body of the girl. He applied a thin coat to her entire body. He made sure to push some into her ears, nose, mouth, vagina and asshole of the girl. He then went to his shelves of supplies and returned with a single egg. He painted this egg with more of his own blood in symbols and arrows. Hia then stuffed a handful of leeches inside the girl's mouth and placed the egg in next. Hia stood back and observed his work. He was certain that he had done what he could do. Now, it was time to wait and let the spirits work on her.

CHAPTER 23 LOWER CLASS

Jay and Tone had walked back to their hotel with a little more lift in their steps. Life felt a bit lighter and carefree, and the jokes came easily and often. Tone started humming a tune that was stuck in his head and Jay was momentarily held captive by the notes of this song. It had a cadence and flow that caught his ears and he too felt the addictive nature of this melody.

"Where did you hear that song?" Jay asked.

"I dunno man." He replied, "I just keep hearing it in my head."

"Man, it sounds so......right!"

They forgot about Sekott altogether and were laughing their asses off about old times and the crazy shit they used to do back in Pattaya, like the time Tone ran down the beach naked, chasing and scaring all the bar girls as if they had never seen a penis before. As they walked past a refuse bin, Tone wanted to stop and release the contents of his bladder.

Jay saw an electric, mosquito-swatting racquet leaning against an empty tuk-tuk taxi. He picked it up and tried pushing the button to see if it worked. He was in luck, a tiny, green LED lit up when he tested it. Jay swatted the air and "Zap! Zap!" Tiny sparks appeared and crackled as several singed insects met their end. Jay suddenly had a very devious idea. He walked over to where Tone was pissing and stuck the energized metal mesh racket right below Tone's urine stream.

"Yaaaaaaeeeeoooowwww!" Tone screamed as he jumped back, peeing all over himself and Jay as well. Jay laughed so hard that he almost peed his pants too. "You mother fucker!" Tone yelled at Jay. "What the fuck? You asshole!"

"That's for getting pee on my knee back at the massage shop, bitch!" Jay yelled back. Tone looked down at his balls. They weren't smoking or on fire, but they had just been kicked by a mule. The metal crosshatching threads of this mosquito zapper discharged a powerful electric shock when shorted out by an insect. Liquid also shorted the circuit and thousands of volts pulsed right up and down the stream of urine, giving Tone a sensation similar to peeing on an electric fence. He grabbed Jay in a head lock and began giving noogies to his skull.

About this time, Sekott was walking down the street and he came across Jay and Tone wrestling by a tree. Tone's pants were undone and his member was hanging out. Sekott noticed the size of it. Sekott was eating, unknowingly, from a cup of leeches he had purchased from a street vendor. His mind was twisting with many thoughts, none of them were about finding a cure now.

He had been considering abandoning this cause altogether and, instead, becoming God's vigilante against the evil forces that were afoot. He looked down at the two men rolling around on the ground, getting dirty as Jay tried to break the head lock hold Tone had on him.

Sekott thought this was childish and animalistic. Good Christians wouldn't act like these heathens. Jay is not a good Christian anyhow. He was with that whore blood-sucker Lamai and now he is becoming just like her! Sekott popped a few more leeches in his mouth. "W-Wa-What the hell is going on here with you heathen animal niggers?" Sekott asked.

If it were any other word, it might have been OK. Tone could put up with a lot of shit from a lot of people, but when Sekott used the 'N' word, that was it. There was no more hanging out with this asshole. He was changing, and changing fast. Sekott was apparently loosing his mind and becoming more paranoid, sanctimonious and bigoted. Tone wanted to just kick his ass, but he chose to be the bigger person and not throw down. Instead, he released his hold on Jay and stood up, pulling his pant's up, and staring right at Sekott.

"What the fuck did you just say?" He asked, "And what the fuck are you eating?"

Before Sekott could reply, he hesitated and looked into the cup of French fries he was munching on. He saw that his French fries had turned into dark writhing worms.

"Ahhhh!" He shrieked as he threw the cup away from him. With bloody lips, he asked, "What did you demons do to my food? You are trying to sabotage everything! The lord God almighty will wield his powerful might on the unfaithful. May he have mercy on your dark souls."

"Sekott, are you OK?" Jay asked. Tone was getting up and fastening his pants and getting ready to put a hurting on this hater because his bigger self was losing his ability to contain himself. Jay could see that something had changed with the blonde haired professor. He was becoming something else now.

"It is I who should ask you, with your tainted blood and your lewd displays in public and your debauchery and drunkenness. Are you OK with the lord?" He asked in return.

"You know, fuck, I hardly ever give a shit!" Tone replied, "But I sure as fuck don't take no shit!" Jay grabbed Tone's shoulder and tried to hold him back from killing Sekott.

Sekott had grown up in a strict religious family, but had put that part of him away for the last ten years. Now that his physiology was changing, and a new force was trying to take over and drive him to new realities, he was reverting back to something that felt solid, secure and familiar. Religion seemed to be the only way to anchor himself.

Jay had been noticing Sekott getting weirder and weirder, as if that were possible, and he was seeing this change with apprehension. Sekott had been introduced to the new blood, quite a while before Jay had, so Sekott's change was more severe and pronounced than Jay's.

Jay saw this change, and was beginning to accept that this may be his fate as well. He felt more driven to find a cure for himself, but he did not see the possibility of doing it with this Mr. Sekott as an option any more. This was the time to part ways. Jay resolved to go onto Mae Sot by himself and take his chances or die trying. Tone should leave for his own safety and Sekott, Sekott had to go, where ever it was that he might go.

"It's time for us to disband," Jay said to Sekott, looking him right in his wild eyes and wondering if Sekott comprehend anything that he was saying. "You are on your own now Sekott. If I find a cure, I will contact you. Your God must know, you need some help!"

"Yeah, just take your self righteous ass the fuck out of here, you mad whack hater!" Tone added, deciding it wasn't worth killing his buzz to get in a scrap with this crazy ass dude. Why oh why do I meet people like this? What is the message? What is the blessing?

Sekott's mind twisted in turmoil. He was convinced that he was being plotted against. Surely these beings had manifested from the dark side. He did not need them, he had God! He could take on the evil emperor of Siam by himself. The tentacles that he saw growing from the roots of the tree nearby were moving towards him. He had to run now. "Ahhhhhh!" He screamed as he ran back in the direction he had come from.

Jay and Tone stared at each other in a confused questioning glance. Tone punched Jay in the balls. "What's the Capitol of Thailand? Huh? Bang Cock muther fucker! How's that feel you dick-zapping, crazy bitch? "Tone said as Jay hunched over grabbing his crotch. "We're near Bang cock! Bitch! Not Zapcock."

"Ok," Jay squeaked, "You got me." Tone helped Jay stand up right and put his arm around his shoulder as they walked down the street.

"That Sekott's one looney, mother fucker!" Tone insisted, "He's lucky I didn't lay his bitch ass out in the street for the dogs to clean up!"

"Yeah, man, I don't know," Jay said, "One thing is for sure, he is not traveling with us again."

That night's events took everyone through a range of emotions. There was the fear of being arrested, which was negated by the mellow bliss of inhaling herbs, and there was laughter and pain topped off with some insanity.

The two, pilgrims made a pilgrimage to the Buri Rum Bamboo Bar, where they would have a few more beers and a few more laughs before zonking out in a cheap hotel for the night. Sekott spent the rest of the night running from imagined flying predators trying to kill him. He had lost his mind for the moment, for the most part.

¤

Lamai's eyes opened in terror. She felt the vibrations that she subconsciously knew as her life force, passing through a tiny hole in space and time, like sand through the narrow opening in an hour glass. This was a feeling like all of her drug induced experiences rolled into one and increased to the tenth power. With an electric shock, everything snapped and an incredible sensation of pain became her immediate reality. Her lungs sucked in deep to absorb oxygen for gas exchange to jump start her circulatory system and her heart tried to push a sluggish ice dam through the constricted blood vessels. Every one of her cells seared with intense pain as life tried to reenter her myo-fascia web template. Her body resisted the change from rigor mortis to animation. Her soul was tormented with the identity of this tiny prison that it was confined to. She let out a long blood curdling scream as whatever was lodged in her mouth was expelled.

Hia was standing close by and caught an airborne egg in his hands. He cracked this snake egg into a pitcher of water and poured it directly into this girl's open screaming mouth. She choked and gagged on her flooded oral cavity and her lungs absorbed some fluids and then expelled them in a coughing and choking fit. Her body was no longer fighting the life entering it, but was now fighting to keep it. Her veins and arteries felt like they were on fire and her skin was searing with hot pain. Her entire body had become an awareness of pain as nerve cells began to transmit signals of discontent. In her mind she felt insanity from this reawakening experience. There was no cognitive thought, only reaction to pain.

As her brain processed all of these impulses, an idea tried to form. What is this? Her brain was trying to produce a cognitive idea, of who, what, where, why or how was this event happening. Who am I? What am I? Why Am I? Where am I? How is this happening? What was before this? What was I before this?

As her mind connected neural networks, questions formed along side the immense pain of reanimation. The girl screamed again for a very long time. Ice shook with fear and pulled a blanket tightly around his head. The Hia watched and waited to see if the reactivation would be a success. It seemed to be working, but he didn't know if her body could withstand the shock. In her mind, she became conscious of a desire. She wanted blood.

¤

Sekott woke up under a bridge next to a pile of vomit. He recalled that he was running in fear from monsters and demons. Did somebody drug me? He had regained some of his faculties. The blood that he had eaten slowly mixed into his system and began to heal him.

The insanity that preceded it was the madness that comes with the hunger. There was pain and paranoia, hatred and hallucinations. The transition often killed a human, depending on the person's constitution. Those who were deliberately transformed by some one else were taken through a regimented system of procedures with a higher success rate. Those who transformed on their own, often killed themselves in the process.

There were those who changed and survived, and now they hunted like scavenging dogs with no way to reenter society. There are pockets of farang Pee Doot Lewat that hunted together like packs of wild dogs. Careless Pee Doot Lewat had left these changed farangs on their own, and now they were staying fed and living any way they could. Local farmers who had seen them called them the Pee Duut Khao, which translated to, ghost with a white ass. The farmers told stories of these people running through fields naked and their asses glowed like a full moon reflecting light.

Sekott was somewhere on the path to this new identity, but during this crux transition, he still retained his human identity. His thoughts went back to a finding a cure and a means to kill. He remembered the mission he had started with two people and wondered where they were now. He remembered Mae Sot, and a that red farang would be there. He had a resolve to go there, and to find the people that he traveled with, and kill them.

¤

After rousting Tone awake by banging on the door, Hangover Jay and Beers for Breakfast Tone hopped on a Song Taeow bus to Nakhon Ratchisima, the city whose nickname was Khorat. This was called the land of brave women, fine silk material, Khorat rice noodle, Phimai historical park and Dan Kwian ceramics.

The Song Taeow was over packed and the ladies on the bus tried to move as far away from Tone as they could because they were offended by his body odor, which was occurring from a mix of pee-stained pants and beer sweat. Nobody on this bus looked like they were going to kill them, Jay thought. Tone kept humming a tune that Jay thought was interesting for some remote reason. Tone had no lyrics for one, he was only humming the notes of something inside him. Jay was intrigued by this song and started repeating the melody in his mind.

Khorat was a busy place. It was a real city, with traffic and noise and malls and car dealerships. It had everything a westerner might want. Khorat was a crossroads between Ubon, Udon, Bangkok and Pattaya. This was a huge province with a huge capital city and a huge contributor to rice production. Jay and Tone felt so much lighter traveling without Sekott. They found it easy to forget they ever traveled with him at all.

As evening rolled around, they looked for a discreet place to eat, drink and talk. They found a nice restaurant that had a front and back seating area with a kitchen and a hong nam in between. The rear seating area was a raised platform with heavy, rustic, gnarly wood furniture, large, thatched shade roofs and drooping strings of lights that chased each other across their wires.

Jay and Tone liked this higher ground, as they were concealed and could see anyone approaching. It felt strategically advantageous to them. In the market near the Song Taeow stop, they had both purchased knives to carry for protection. Jay chose a rubber handled, river rafter's style folding knife and Tone went for the butterfly blades. Tone couldn't use the blades proficiently but made a good show while twirling them complete with Japanese-anime-style sound effects.

"Man, I think we should split up in Bangkok." Jay said, "This shit is my problem, you've been dragged into it and it caused you too much pain already. You don't deserve any of this shit. I should go on alone and you should go, somewhere. I don't know where, maybe Bali or Italy, just get the fuck out of this crazy mess, and away from me."

"I can't say that I haven't thought about this already," Tone said, "I am thinking that it might be time to get back into the urban D.C. music scene. I have a million new ideas after living in this wild ass place. I have an album in my head from the last couple of days! I can lay down bar after bar of sick shit with an alchemy of East and West. But, can you do this shit on your own?"

"I have to!" Jay said, "And I want to. This is all on me and I am going to see it through myself."

"All right man!'" Tone replied. "I guess this is the best choice for both of us."

"OK. It's settled then." Jay said, "When we get to Bangkok, we part ways. I will go on to Mae Sot and you will ride the road to hip hop success in the land of milk and honey and rape and crystal meth."

"At least I'll be done with Mistuh Sekott." Tone added with contorted facial features.

A Thai man sitting at the next table was eavesdropping on their conversation and decided to barge in.

"I am sorry to hear that things haven't worked out between you two," he inserted, "You seem like a nice couple."

Jay and Tone looked over to see who had just commented. There was a middle aged Thai man with glasses who looked very fair skinned for an Isaan person. "Excuse me?" Tone said perplexed. "Buddy, you got us all wrong." Jay said in turn.

"I'm sorry." The man said, "Forgive my intrusion and my misunderstanding."

"Yo bro," Tone defended, "This butt's exit only and my homie here is a lovesick, romantic, pussy-whipped skirt chaser."

"Again, forgive me." he apologized, "I did not mean to be rude. May I ask, how did you find this bar?"

"It's a long story!" said Jay, "And it is majorly influenced by one Thai lady."

Can I also ask you," the man said, "How do you rate the ladies here in Thailand?"

"Bold, not so old, easily sold, sometimes icy cold and as real as fake gold." Tone rhymed. "The ladies here have all but killed our asses so far. My homie's girlfriend for instance. She's a mad whack, gun-packin', lip-smakin', blood...."

"What my friend is saying is that we, I mean I, have not had so good of luck with the ladies." said Jay.

"My name is Yai." the man said, "Again, sorry for the intrusion. I have seen many farangs come to the land of smiles and go away with frowns, or even with a bad case of suicide. I hate to see the way things sometimes go awry here. It really doesn't represent the true nature of Thai people, but it happens all the time."

"Well, my name's Tone, with the big bone and the ability to make 'em moan." Tone said, "And this is my buddy Jay, not gay, but who's to say, he's always hornay."

"Nice to meet you, Tone, and Jay." Yai said.

"Please join us," Jay invited, "Darling, Sam koowad Leo, Kawp koon Kawp, por favor!" Jay called out to the cocktail waitress and ordered three more bottles of beer in English, Thai and Spanish. She understood the Thai part of it and walked back to the cooler. Yai moved over and sat down with them at their table, slightly baffled by Tone's rhyming linguistics.

"So where are you from bro?" Tone asked.

"I was born in America, but my mom was Thai and my dad was Tsalagi Indian. I got my looks from my mom." Yai said, "You both sound like Americans to me by the way."

"Yes," Jay said, "We came here as English teachers with high ideals, wanting to make a difference and live more simply. I guess we got caught up in the flow and had a bad case of craziness and disappointment."

"Jay speaks for himself," Tone added, "He has the heartbreaking problem. I just have a problem with these moments of sobriety that sneak up on me every now and then, but I drink them away quickly and they leave me to be me."

"So, Jay, you have a heartbreaking problem? Looking for love in all the wrong places? Finding nothing but girls that want to leech off of you?" Yai asked. Jay wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled to engage this fellow in conversation about his love life. He had worn out Tone's ear already and perhaps likened to the idea of whining to a captive audience for a while.

"Of course, I would like to fall in love with a beautiful exotic woman and have a happy life with a family here," Jay said, "but I chose a girl who fooled me so completely and all but killed me."

"I don't know what happened to you, but can I ask, did you meet her at a bar?" Yai queried. "Well..." Jay said looking down at his beer.

Yai began, "So many farang men have had bad experiences with Thai women and I feel for these guys. But if you listen to them all, they seem to present an unflattering idea of Thai women in general. What farang men don't realize is that they are all drinking out of the same peed in punch bowl, which is why they disproportionately get the dregs instead of the top shelf cognacs. To spit it real, there is an enormous difference between a 'typical Thai woman' and Thai women who date foreigners. I know this sounds harsh, but it is the jing jing truth, and most people just don't get this.

As I told you, I am half Thai, born in the USA, but raised in both the US and Thailand. So you can believe me when I tell you that Thais will share with me shit that they'll never tell you, even if you're married to one. Why am I telling you now? Because I guess I feel like I am a defender of Thai pride and want people to see a different picture. Most farang guys really don't see how things are, like how they are perceived by the average Thai, both men and women, what Thai people talk about when farangs aren't around, and what the gossip connection is all about. All farangs really know, is what their wife, or girlfriend, or boyfriend or lady-boy, or their group of friends and relatives have told them, which is probably only what they want you to think.

The typical farang seems to hook up with the women of Isaan, instead of the North or Central or South. They mostly are seen with tiny, dark-skinned girls, with a grade nine education. The reason for this is that Isaan is the poorest area of Thailand and many a pretty Isaan girl, as opposed to the ugly ones, goes to the cities to work in a 'hotel' or 'factory'. You will readily find these girls in every go-go bar, ready to throw themselves at the first farang that comes around. They speak of farangs as if they are a commodity to own one or more of. But, for them, this is a step out of the rice paddy. When a farang comes to Thailand, he goes to the bar, and this is who he meets. I am in no way talking down about Isaan people. I am just stating a harsh reality that they are viewed as 'lesser', because of their darker skin, because of their different language, because of their average education level, because of their proximity to Laos and Cambodia and because some are known to be farang-sucking experts.

So why do farang men seem to hook up the 'worst' kind of money sucking Thai lady? It is because farang men have a reputation in Thailand. Number One, Thais think that all Farangs are rich. Number Two, Thais believe that farang men are perverts and connoisseurs of low-class women. Farangs need to understand what Thais believe about class separation, which, in my opinion, is not flattering to any group of people, but it is necessary to understand this, to understand why they think you are a bunch of whore-mongers.

Before you judge Thais for this form of prejudice, understand that Thai people all know what is going on in Pattaya, Phuket, and the seedier areas of Bangkok. They see old farang guys trying to pass off their grand daughter-aged hookers as girlfriends, and they know what's up. So, if you want to blame someone, then blame the dirty old men who come to Thailand to try and do something close to pedophilia. Think about it, grandpa is walking around with someone one-fourth his age, and expects everyone to be OK with it? Maybe you fit into this category. I don't know. Only you do.

There is a misconception that Thai women have about all farangs being wealthy. Think about what kind of women will this attract? Women who are into money. Women who want to suck you dry. Most women want to be financially supported, but not all believe it to be important enough to get married to a light-skinned Grampa. Those who do have it on the top of their priorities will certainly be after the guys that have it.

But then there's the Number Two reputation that farangs carry around, the whore-seeking thing. Most Thai girls are very conservative by nature and really don't want to be seen as 'that sort of woman.' So that takes all of the 'nice' girls off of the playing field. The women that are educated and better off, don't want that stigma either. Why be seen as a low class gold digger, when you're already financially sound? So, who's left is the poor, desperate types who don't care about their reputation or what other people think. They have kids, family and farms to support, now. They are willing to do anything to feed their family.

Farangs don't know what the typical Thai woman is like, but, they are probably right about the Thai women that they've been with. This is because most of the Thai women that farangs end up with are not typical Thai women. Most farangs won't want to believe this. They will want to believe what the women who they've met have told them, that farang guys are better, that they are done with their cheating, drunk, wife-beating, Thai ex-husbands. Would you stay with them if they told you that they are really with you only for your money? I don't think so.

The truth is, probably many of these Thai women have had some bad experiences with Thai partners. Although they'd rather have a decent Thai guy, he is probably out of reach, and the clock is ticking for her and her family. So, why is this, 'decent Thai man' so out of reach for these, 'lower' type of women? There's a well kept secret in Thailand, that every Thai person seems to know, but no farang knows, or can grasp what it means. To make a gross generalization, you can't get three Thai people to agree on any one thing, but nearly everyone agrees on this point, both men and women alike. They believe, unfairly, that farang men only date ugly Thai women, because the women they are with are not white enough.

You have to understand the difference between the way that Thai and farang men perceive women. It's the 'lower class' factor again, but let me spit it so you can understand. Thai people look at dark skinned women in the same way that Americans look at fat, white women. Most American guys don't want to wake up every morning next to an obese woman, but some guys are into that, and some just recognize this as an opportunity, so they have great success scoring with the larger ladies. This is how it is with 'lower class' type women. Thai men want to be with lighter skinned ladies and the women know it. Just look at the bath products for sale in any rack of any supermarket or small shop. Check out any Thai woman's magazine and notice who is displayed on the cover and inside. Ask any Thai girl which is more beautiful, light or dark skin. Look at the Thai women on TV and the movie stars. They certainly don't look like the typical go-go bar girl walking hand in hand with Grandpa wearing tiny swimming trunks.

It doesn't make sense that farangs 'prefer' a 'lower' type of woman, but that's really all that is available to them. Farangs don't see these girls as lower class, but, unfortunately, Thai men do. Blame it on social conditioning. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and farangs behold things that Thai men will pass up every time. It's the grass is always greener effect. Westerners spend money on tanning lotions, tanning beds, spray on tans, you name it. Eastern people spend money on skin lightening products and try to avoid the sun at all cost. It is a shame that people can't be happy with what they are, but this is the way of the world. The point is that 'nice girls', by Thai standards, are not who farangs meet when they go to the red light district.

Another point, it's almost pointless to be a good looking farang in Thailand, because you have access to the same demographic of 'lower class' women as that fat, hairy, smelly, fifty-five year old Anglo guy sitting at the end of the bar. You can be as physically fit or as good looking and youthful as you want, but money-seeking girls may see those as undesirable traits because they think a guy like that doesn't have enough money to feed himself since he's not fat. The fat guy has the advantage here. A 'lower' type Thai female want some one with a lot of money and opportunity, and the fat man looks like he has more of that.

You won't have access to the same pool of women that I have, as a Thai man. Back in the states, you see a good looking guy and he is probably with a good looking woman. But here in Thailand, you see a good looking farang guy and the chances are that his girlfriend or wife will be the same 'lower, dark-skinned, came-from-Isaan' type woman that all the other farang guys are running around with. Farangs do not know that other Thais are looking down at them for being with these ladies, and it doesn't really matter when you get down to it. If a farang finds someone attractive, then who cares what other people think. But they won't gain any status in the general public eye. And chances are, the woman they are with is not in it for love.
My advice to any farang who's looking for love is this. If a Thai woman comes after you, watch the fuck out. Thai women are very conservative by nature. If a 'nice' Thai girl wants to pursue a guy she's interested in, her friend will approach the guy and say that 'someone' is really interested, and find out if they're available. The guy might ask some questions but the friend will never reveal who it is until they believe there is a chance for a legitimate hook up. If a Thai woman drops subtle hints and the guy doesn't get it, or isn't interested, she won't pursue him for long. The point here is that Thai women are very conservative when it comes to courtship, and the man has to be the aggressor. If the woman is the aggressor, then she's really not the type of woman that a Thai guy would be interested in. If a Thai girl tells you that she really likes farang guys and that's what she's looking for, don't just walk away, fucking run, because, what she's essentially saying, is that she wants a farang guy and any farang will do. It means that you are nothing special, just a mark, a commodity. Why do you think she prefers a farang guy? Do you think it's your charm and personality? Why would you want to be with a woman who would be with any other farang guy that she could get up with?

If this is possible, what you really want is a Thai woman who is not interested in a farang guy at all. If you win over that sort of woman, well, then you've got someone who actually likes you for who you are. You'll know that she's into you, because, you were never a mark. This won't be easy, but if you are looking for love, stay the fuck out of the bars. This is probably good advice in any country.

If you realize that you can't turn a whore into a housewife, if you recognize that ho's are only in it for the money, if you know what you are dealing with but you still want that kind of girl, then give up your notions of romantic love and accept that for an agreed price, you can enjoy the benefits of having someone who can pose as your girlfriend who you could never get in your own country. You can have the sexual open-ness of a dancing, go-go bar slut, and maybe even get someone who will wash your dishes and iron your shirts. You will have a financial arrangement that can be mutually rewarding. Win – Win. But don't expect to have any respect in the community. And don't cry when she moves on to some one richer or finds a better opportunity for herself, because that's who she's out for."

"Damn Gee! You must be the wisest mother fucker in this country!" Tone said, "They're gonna kill you if they find out you are leaking out their attack plan!"

"This all makes sense in the context of purely human Thai women." Jay said. "But what about the women that, you know, have a different diet? Can a farang man, find a middle ground, and co-habitate, even have a loving, family relationship, with a Pee Doot Lewat girl?"

"Don't you fucking get it!" Tone screamed at Jay, "What do you think that whole spiel was about? You ain't gonna find love from any blood sucking ho's!"

CHAPTER 24 REANIMATED

"Do they kill people here for being blood drinkers?" Jay asked.

"Do they kill people in America just for being different?" Yai asked.

"Well, yes." Jay responded, "It's dangerous to be gay if you live in the bible-belt, let alone a transvestite or cross dresser. It can be socially repugnant to be a Democrat in Arizona. It's not easy to be blue in a sea of red. And the first nation people could tell you a few stories about repression."

"Example. You don't wanna be an East coaster on the West side! Bam Bam!" Tone added. "You dead!"

"OK, I get what you mean, but are those the exceptions?" Yai asked. "In general, can't you be what you want to be in America, religiously, politically and sexually? Isn't America the great melting pot? The government and the general public does not go on a witch hunt for people who move to the beat of a different drum, am I right? "

"Not anymore, I guess." Jay replied. "

"So what I'm getting at is that it's the same here." Yai implied, "In Thailand, you will not get killed for being from Isaan when you visit Bangkok. Maybe there is class distinction, but there is not an all out genocide. That is why the Pee Doot Lewat co-exist with the regular population. It's the same with the Hole in the Wall, gay and Tom population. Thailand, even more than America, has a great tolerance for personal choices, even though they are locked in tradition and superstition. The bloodline you speak of exists here because people have learned to get along together, much like in San Francisco or Kuala Lampur."

"What does the rest of the population think about their blood drinking neighbors?" Jay asked.

"You can see a demonstration of this in any market." Yai stated, "The lady selling fish is a pure blood, and she's sitting next to a lady selling shrimp who is one of the different blood lines. They don't talk about it. That would be rude. They smile and show politeness, regardless of what they are thinking. This superficial presentation may seem fake to Westerners, but it holds Eastern nations together and keeps them from constantly massacring each other."

"Do Thai people recognize each other's, blood type?" Jay asked.

"The dogs certainly do." Yai said, "Dogs smell and sense things we can not. Can people tell each other apart? Those who are sensitive can. Those who are not sensitized don't notice. Classes tend to separate themselves. Doctors and teachers don't hang out with farmers and market vendors, the same as Ivy leaguers don't go to the redneck bars. Kids in school hang out with their classmates, who are grouped according to how much money their parents pay in tuition. In the schools, the administration recognizes that there will be different, social complexities. The children are segregated into groups because of this, and everybody is content with their situation. They want to be with their own kind. You don't see poor kids asking for scholarships to get into advanced classes. They want to be with their friends. All of the 'special' kids are in the same classes together, and probably the teacher is akin to their nature. That way, they know how to deal with 'special' circumstances that arise. Maybe instead of a kid wetting his pants, he is discovered to be sucking on rats neck. The teacher will understand, rather than reprimand."

"Wow man," Jay said, "This has been such an enlightening conversation. I have another question if you don't mind?"

"Shoot." Yai fired.

"How widespread is this, situation?"

"Situation?" Yai pondered, "It is more a destination than a situation. I think you know from your experiences where the breadbasket of this race is. It is not something that is spreading, rather it is shrinking. Globalization is changing everything. There is a farang in almost every village in Thailand. The Chinese own many of the business here. The ASEAN community is pushing the English language and looking for a common currency. As the world floods in, groups of people pull closer together and get more reclusive. Yet, the trend is a movement towards things Western, because that is where every one thinks all the money is. More money equals more internet phones with touch screens and cameras. Technology is the wind that fans the flames of world economic trends. The local economic trend is based on the class distinction and allocation of wealth. Laos farang-suckers come to Isaan to work. Isaan girls go to Pattaya, Bangkok girls go to Phuket. Phuket girls go to Singapore. And Singapore girls, well, they don't have to work."

"So," Jay said, "Are you one of them, Yai?"

"No, I am not," he said, "But you may be on the way to being one."

"Huh?" Jay looked shocked, "How...What makes you think that?"

"Well, for one, you wear the pendant of a person who is one." Yai said gesturing towards Jay's necklace. "And unless you are stoned or having allergies, the redness in your eyes is showing your state."

Jay was caught with his pants down. He had so many questions that he wanted answers for. He wanted help. This stranger seemed so well schooled on the way things worked here, maybe he could be of help. Maybe he was sent here to kill them. Jay didn't know what to say next.

"Yo Yo Yo!" Tone said, "I see it like this. Some people are just born to dis. There will always be haters, that's the way it is. Hater men marry hater women and they have hater kids. The person sitting next to you, does it really matter where they're from? Or is the real question, what engaging alchemical reaction is about to engage? There is fear for many, indifference for some. For me, I just wanna know, what are we gonna do for fun?"

Tone started humming the tune that was stuck in his head, without realizing it. Jay started humming along too. "What is that tune?" Jay said, "I feel like I should know this."

"That's a song of protection that the regular Thai people use to shield themselves from harm from, other Thai people who want to take something from them." Yai said, "I should add that not all people who suck are bad. And not all people who are bad, suck."

"I wanna get sucked real bad!" Tone said. "If ya know what I mean!"

"Thank you gentlemen for the conversation." Yai said, standing up. "I would like to pay for your beers. Check please!" Yai called to the waitress, and with his finger, he motioned one two three beers on his bill. The waitress nodded and went to the counter.

"So thank you too!" Jay said. "Where are you off to for the rest of the night?"

"I am going back to my job now." he replied.

"Oh. What is it that you do, when you do what you're doing?" Tone asked.

"I'm a dishwasher here at this restaurant." Yai replied as he grabbed some empty glasses, smiled, and headed back towards the kitchen.

¤

Lamai sat up on the table where she had been reanimated, looking around, shaking, wondering where and what she was. She noticed a decrepit old man walking towards her. He was carrying a cup of blood that he filled by slicing his own wrist. He didn't say a word, he just stared at her face with old, piercing eyes. His arm extended and he held the cup out to her. She had no clue as to what was going on, she only knew that she wanted what was in this cup.

It hurt to make her body respond to her will as she painfully reached her arms towards the red colored glass. She noticed her own skin when she did this. She looked at her arms that were covered with countless tiny red wounds and a foul looking paste. She was lost in the act of recognition of her own body. She looked like she had been a pin cushion or a cactus hugger. Her thoughts sharpened a little. She reached out and snatched the cup from his hands and sucked it down greedily, some of the blood was streaming down the sides of her mouth and neck. The Hia reached out his hand and rubbed this spilled blood into her skin. She recoiled with doubt and uncertainty.

"Drink this!" Hia commanded of her. "Drink!"

What is this sound? She thought. This sound is a word. This word is an idea. This idea is to swallow this, blood? How do I know this word, blood? This tastes so fucking good! "Fucking Bitches!" she screamed. A flood of cognitive recognition and memory washed over her. Sekott. Jay. Belle. Som. Fat Frank. "Fuck!"

She stared at Hia who was intently observing her. Who the hell is he?

He walked around the table, looking her up and down. Her head followed his movements and her eyes held his gaze.

"Where am I?" She found these words that formed in her mind and were released by her lips. It felt strange, and painful, to use her breath and vibrating vocal cords to make the first communication since she went into the darkness.

"You are back!" he said. "You have been to a place that most never come back to tell about. I brought you back because you still have something to do. Do you know your name?"

She understood these words. It was a question. What is my name? "Lamai?.... Lamai." She said. "How did I get here?"

"I brought you back." he said, "Two stupid girls brought you here. Drink some more and rest now." She realized that her entire body was a hideous mess. She hated being in it, but here she was. She felt a black vengeance was growing inside her.

Lamai lie back after finishing the cup of blood she was given to drink. This blood was old and powerful and began to work on reviving her instantly. She stared at the cobweb covered ceiling as Hia went about shuffling ingredients into a new concoction. She felt hate. Hate for being alive. Hate for being dead. Hate for this broken body she was in. Hate for all the fuckers in her past who betrayed her. The hate in her grew as her body repaired itself. But, how can I be here if I was dead? Am I,...alive? A large gecko moved quickly across the ceiling. It paused and began to shake and belch out a loud sound, "Toookayy...Toookayy...Tookayy" If I was dead, what am I now? Am I a ghost? Am I still dead? Is this a dream, a test, a level of the underworld? What is that lizard trying to tell me?

Hia prepared another brew of exotic unusual ingredients, stirring it and chanting over it. When he felt it was ready, he poured it into a cup and set it down on the table next to Lamai. "When you are ready, drink this!" He commanded, "But when you do, you have crossed the line between the worlds, and you will not be the same as you were, ever again. You are now Pee Wa ta na. You can not die again. You can not live again. You can only exist until you are destroyed. The spirits have shown me that it was a mistake for you to leave when you did. I give you the chance to exist freely, to walk on this plane, in this world, to correct what mistakes have been made!"

These words floated through Lamai's reactivated brain. Like a marble in a large funnel, they rolled around and around, until they hit the center, and then they dropped, into complete recognition. She was now seeing everything as it happened, and she had the recall of being not quite dead, dragged across her floor, thrown onto a cart and wrapped up. She was recalling the feeling when she slid down a bank into a dark pond of water. She was leaving her body as this happened. She could remember watching this happen from outside of herself.

When she crossed over, She was afraid and angry at first, and then, things became peaceful and familiar. She saw all the images of her life there in that place. She saw all of her desires, all of her deeds, all of her hopes. She saw the clear light of ultimate reality. She felt completely liberated and content. This was a blissful feeling, and it seemed that everything bad she ever did was forgiven. She let this infinite feeling take her. At this point Dharmakaya was possible, but instead, she tried to hang onto this feeling, and then the secondary clear light dimmed as the memories of her life tried to become foreground in this experience.

At that time. in front of her, the divine Mother/Father appeared, sexless, encompassing the universe without duality. She was awed in its presence, but as her memories fought for attention, and she gave it, this divine entity became dark and twisted.

She remembered her sins now, and realized she had not been forgiven. The Deity turned into a fearful monstrosity that she could not bear to look at. It came for her and she was paralyzed with fear, like no fear she ever knew in her life. Then, she felt an intense searing pain as if her entire body was being burned. She thought she was being destroyed by this deity, but the image of this wrathful being faded as the pain intensified.

She was temporarily being sucked back into her previous condition, an incarnate being on the earthly plane, a player, a fool, on the wheel of life. She was now lost, between worlds. Not meant for either. What is the purpose for anything now? What was the point, she wondered. She felt complete disconnection from life, and from the afterlife that she tasted. What do I do now?

"Lamai!" Hia shouted at her, "Stand up!"

Lamai used her brain to animate her limbs. It was painful to force them to flex and bend. She obeyed this command. It was all she had. Lamai slowly came into a standing position, fighting the rigor mortis that had set in. The Hia handed her a knife.

"Take this!" He said as he placed it in her hand, "Now! Stab your self in the leg."

Lamai did not think or hesitate. She plunged the blade into her thigh. Strangely it hurt very little. The pain of standing was worse. She only could respond to the commands given to her. She couldn't reason or form anything for herself now.

"Good!" said the Hia, "Take it out now!" Lamai removed the blade and handed it back to the Hia as he motioned for her to do so. Lamai welcomed his commands. It gave her a purpose. Otherwise, she had none. She was removed from the natural process of death and rebirth. She was trapped in this reanimated body until this body could be destroyed. She had no will, no drive, no pain, no feeling. The reanimation had been excruciating at first, but that was just the last of her ego being noticed and then notified that it was no longer necessary to be here. Instead of being enlightened by this egoless state, she was instead just a soulless body and her soul lost some where in the void.

"You are going to do something for this world, for your people. I brought you back so you could cause more pain. I know you did not want to come back. You are only here in the reality of which I created for you. I brought you back because I could." The Hia told her, "I will guide you along the way, and when you are finished, I will give you rest. Maybe!"

¤

Tone and Jay were on the road again, in a mini-van, east of Bangkok. Tone was dozing heavily, in between the parts of the daily cycle that he spent time with his favorite girl, Leo. The mini-van driver was trying to make up for lost time. It was lost time that he incurred when he spent an extra fifty minutes, fucking around at the bus stop, eating fried rice, flirting with food vendor ladies and doing shots of laow khao. Thai time was held to a smaller window with bus schedules, and they didn't wait for anyone, when it was time to roll. Jay noticed the speedometer on the dash approaching 155 K/ph. He was sandwiched in between snoring Tone and a large farang lady who was traveling with her dog.

The dog was shedding all over Jay, and the rest of the bus. The lady was still brooding because she had paid for two seats in the vehicle, one for her and one for her dog, but she was instructed to put the dog in her fat lap. The bus driver was not at all interested in seeing her trip tickets, he was surely not going to let the dog take up a seat in the bus that another fare paying customer could fit in. The lady was disconcerted that there was such poor coordination between the ticket selling window person and this coarse bus driver.

Jay was being squashed by the overflow of her body into his seat space. Jay didn't have any "Oh shit!" handles to hold onto, being placed in the center of the bench seat, so with every bend the driver took at high speed, Jay found himself to be the innards of a van passenger sandwich, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

The mini bus pulled off into a 7-11 for fuel and a hong nam bathroom break. Tone was still crashed on the bus, dreaming about having psychedelic mandala sex with deities. Jay jumped off to go stretch his legs and get away from the dog hair that he tried to brush off of himself with little success. The driver went to work also on swept out his van, cursing in Thai about the lady who brought the dog who left the hair.

It was evening time, and the scents of the season were strong here. The sun was beginning to go from purple to twilight. It had warmed the world all day, and now it was being dragged over the edge by the scarab beetle. Nuit was smiling with her creation from above.

The smell in the air was that of drying tobacco that had been harvested and carefully hung on racks to dry. The sun's heat and the evening's humidity lifted the flavors into the air and nostrils. It was the smell of fresh, maturing, tobacco warmth and goodness. Jay had never smelled tobacco like this. It made him want to start smoking again. The whole scene was so surreal and it melted into the horizon that consisted of homes and fires and faerie lights strung provocatively through the trees.

There were frogs calling into the darkness of the space where Jay was now, between the row of shops and the glowing skyline. These frogs came back to the world the night after the first heavy rain. For the past four months, they had been sleeper cells, ready to croak into action. Just add water. They croaked a different tune than their audience had heard the night before. This sound was robust, and purely sexual.

Jay let his mind drift into that darkness and into the mind of the amphibian. I am a frog. My skin is wet and the rain makes me happy. I am so happy that I want to sing. I am horny too. The rain makes me horny. I am so wet. I feel the pull of nature to find my lady frog. I sing to her. I sing to the rain. My song croaks and peeps the words of joy and loneliness. "I am here! I am here! I am wet and so happy! I want to be with you! Where are you? I am here. I am wet and you are too. Let's be wet together. Let's make beautiful frog love together. Let's have raw passionate frog humping! I am here. I want to get all froggy with you. The rain is falling and you hear me calling. I am here! Come join me in Frog Nirvana. Let's make tens of thousands of babies together. Most of them will be eaten by something else, so let's make many, many babies. I am here! I am better than all other frogs! I am the best frog of all! You can tell by my voice. You can hear my song is better than all others. I am the best frog ever and I am so wet and wanting to copulate with you. Come be my frog queen. I am your frog King! I will sing as long as the rain is falling. The rain falls so we can come together. I am here! Come my dear! Come! O come! I am numb! With the lonely lust of Amphibium.

Jay was hungry after thinking about frogs so he went to look at the fares of the vendor carts. He had a roadside meal of Mama instant noodles and pork meat balls, grilled on a stick and covered with a sweet, sugary sauce. He washed it all down with a Singha beer, just for a change.

Jay, with a full belly, went to the edge the tree line near the rest stop. He walked to find a tree to pee on, instead of going to a urinal at a bug-infested, bright-light, public, three baht squat stop. He and Tone had nicknamed it the Three Baht Squat because public restrooms commonly charged you three Baht to walk in. As he walked he passed a very strange baby sitting on a bamboo table. This baby was picking mosquitoes out of the air at super-fast speed, and eating them. Jay wondered where this boy's mother was and what she might be eating at the moment. He wondered what he should be eating at the moment. He really wanted to satisfy his hunger, and the meat balls didn't do it. I want blood.

¤

Lamai wanted nothing. She had no capacity nor ability to want. The Hia had reanimated her, with his own power and with help from the spirits that he hung out with. She felt the pain of the process and then was cursed to the void, her spirit in an eternal limbo, waiting for the fate of the body to perish, and then, maybe, recollection and another chance at reincarnating. The magic man used her as he used Ice, as a servant. She was a hideous looking, leech-eaten, aged carcass, walking with the energy that was being emitted from a different place. She was there, but only as the idea of her. She was open for any, and all suggestions, from her Hia.

The Hia, which is a word, for 'the man who thinks he knows what he is talking about', had foreseen the vision of his race being exterminated. He knew that this scrawny walking zombie that he created, knew the people that were going to be the catalyst of this apocalyptic event. He needed this walking corpse to access some of her energetic cellular memory, and recall the energetic bodies of two men.

Two people, farang Jay, a teacher, and farang Sekott, a scientist. Sex. Blood. Life. Profit. Death. Lamai focused into a cauldron as the Hia instructed her, and these images appeared on the water's surface. The images that the Hia saw were clear and understood.

The Hia, who was now dragging Lamai by the wrist, walked his puppet to the altar that he worked at. He lifted a challis-like stone cup, and handed it to this abhorition. "Fill this with water from the cauldron!" The Hia commanded of the Lamai thing. It obeyed. Hia added more drops of his own blood, more dried frog skins, some carrots (for better vision) and rotting fish pieces (also for improved vision.) He stirred this unholy blend with his hand, squeezing it all into an elixir. He licked the paste from his hand and placed the cup on his altar. He offered this deal to the spirits: If you aid this discarnate flesh, in destroying that which threatens our future, I will give you another one hundred years of loyal service, to you in particular, god, Apep!

Sparks sizzled in the cup as the Hia finished his supernatural bargaining. This liquid was now what was known as, Nam Wet Mon Dam, or Black Magic Juice. It would enable the drinker of it to see any intended individuals and feel their presence, also enabling the one who ingests it to locate those individuals as if moving towards the gravity of the center of the earth.

Lamai had the stored memories of the individuals that Hia saw in the underworld. The Hia gave her more instructions. He placed two dolls in her hands. He pointed to the challis, he pointed to her eyes, he pointed toward the dolls, then he gestured ripping the heads off of the dolls. He explained to her, as if he was explaining something to Ice, what she must do now.

He took a drink from the challis and handed it to her to drink. This bound them in form and force for the duration of this reanimation. Along with inhuman mindlessness, she had inhuman strength. After this elucidation, the Hia washed her body with a dirty rag soaked in unholy water. This ritual bath sealed the deal.

Then, the Hia did things to her body that he would normally do to Ice. He made her get into the position of a four legged animal and he thrust his athame into her exposed opening. Next, he stuck his stubby little hard penis into her bleeding hole. At the end of his efforts, he came, and the energy from everything that happened that night was sent into her and fell onto the ground. He licked his blade and tasted the foul blood of someone who was poisoned. Stupid girls!

¤

Jay let his piss exit with the strength and volume of many beers and a few bottles of water. He felt strange. He felt very isolated. He felt like someone was watching him. He was paranoid. He saw a chicken walking near him. He grabbed the chicken by the head and, with a quick motion of his wrist, he gyrated the chicken's entire body and snapped its neck. He chewed the neck open and drank whatever fluids were leaking from it. He didn't know what to do with this hunger he was experiencing. He gave over to his craving and drank something very fresh.

The blood worked quickly. Jay seemed to feel sated immediately. He also seemed to get a grip on himself as well. The driving urge had left him. The feeling of immediacy and survival morphed into something less urgent and he became calm and relaxed. Everything felt alright to him as he wiped the chicken blood from his face. He looked down at the dead chicken on the ground and had a moment of clarity. This is what I have become, he thought. And he was OK with it. There was no guilt. There was no fear, only reality as created by the perceiver. I will need to do this every now and then, Jay thought. He had not changed, not really. Only his diet had. He was still the same person. He was not turning into something bizarre like Sekott was. Why? If this was as bad as it got, he could handle this, he thought. Then, Jay began to throw up violently all over the dead chicken he had just choked.

¤

The Hia gave Lamai a wadded up ball of Thai money. He gave her the detailed instructions to travel by Song Taeow, taxi and by bus, or by any transport necessary, to move in the direction of the feeling inside of her. When she located the origin of this magnetic force, she was to destroy it, with her own hands or with anything that could be used as a weapon. This force that was her magnet was Jay and Sekott.

There were two beings to locate. The Hia instructed her to find the dark haired man first. After he was destroyed, she was to find and kill the blonde one. After this, she should return to this spot where he stood with his dripping penis, for her rest. She repeated these steps to the Hia, who was satisfied that she knew what she was to do.

Because she had no will, no soul, this was her complete existence, this task at hand. The Hia believed these men had to be killed, or they might become the harbingers of death to his people. Lamai would be his instrument to change fate. The Hia had a vision stuck in his head of countless Pee Doot Lewat gasping and falling to the ground dying of sickness. He couldn't let this happen.

Somewhere, her lost soul longed for something, anything, to happen, anything besides complete darkness, silence, no temperature, no sound, no movement nor vibration. The soul had the awareness of being separate from the existence of everything. Because this soul knew what it was like to have existed before, its present state was locked in excruciating loneliness. This soul was locked.

¤

Jay walked back to the mini-bus after going to the hong nam to wash the blood from his face and hands. He caught a couple of stares from men standing near the bathroom, as if they knew what he just did. There was no three Baht charge for this hong nam this time. Jay was glad that he didn't have to talk to anyone with his current bloody appearance. After getting all cleaned up, Jay walked back to the mini-bus, where a scene was unfolding. Tone stood smoking a cigarette, watching a big farang lady arguing with the bus driver. Tone gave Jay a knowing look, suggesting this shit was funny as fuck.

The driver was refusing to let the lady's dog back on the bus. He had had all the hair he could stand. She was insisting, in English, that she had two bus tickets and kept saying the name of her destination, Krueng Thep, Krueng Thep. The driver kept shaking his head, and repeating in Thai, "Maa Mai Bai!" Dog not go!

The driver was ready to roll off and he threw two hundred Baht at the lady who would not board the bus without her best friend, or more accurately, the entity she treated like her child because she never had a child of her own. Jay slipped past her deflated presence and got into a seat next to the window, not wanting to have to ride in the middle position again, which was known to Jay as 'bitch' position. The fat lady looked at Jay and Tone, as if pleading, 'help me, we are farangs-in-law and you must back me up'. The driver looked at Tone as if he was with married to, and traveling with this lady, and he was going to stay here with her. Tone looked back at the driver like, I don't know this bitch man! Just because we are both, FA-LANG, you think that we come from the same place and that we know each other mother fucker?

CHAPTER 25 THE SHOW

Bangkok smelled like an open sewer in the thin, dank, morning air. The mini-bus made it to the station only a little bit late, minus one angry, fat, farang lady and one noisy, little, hairy dog. The big city smells were quite a contrast from Isaan, breakfast, cooking fires. A meal of rice and something on top of it cost about ten to twenty Baht more here, and had to be eaten alongside the city smells. A maze of roads, bridges and overpasses crowded the skyline in this concrete jungle. You could still smell breakfast cook fires, but they were propane flames, not wood charcoal. Instead of plah daeg fermented fish sauce they used plah rah fermentation. Jay had already grown to like the Isaan blend of rotten fish better. Instead of being surrounded by farmers, the world was surrounded by aggressive taxi drivers.

"Where the fuck we gonna go now?" Tone asked.

"How do you feel about a farang-magnet area?" Jay suggested. "There's a place called Khao Sawn road where every farang is required to buy rip-off, counterfeit, Raybun sunglasses for a hundred Baht. There are lots of clubs, hotels, shops and food vendors there as well."

"Der gonna be bitches dare?" He asked.

"Wall to wall bitches, Bro!" Jay answered, "Two hundred hot ones and three ugly ones."

"Sounds like a destination!" Tone smiled, and the boys were off to visit the farang Mecca of Bangkok called, Khao Sawn road.

Jay had to every so often ignore his current situation of terror and fear in order to balance it with 'who gives a fuck' partying carelessness. Tone found it easy to be carefree, just about all of the time, and Jay was happy to have him around for one more night. Jay knew he had something very heavy to deal with soon enough. He let his mind escape from all seriousness and just go out for fun this night. He vowed not to let anything bring him down. Fuck Sekott, fuck knife wielding assassins, fuck old girlfriends, fuck the police and fuck the Pee Doot Lewat!

Khao Sawn road was a non-stop party which slacked off a little during the hotter morning and afternoon hours. That was about the time that Tone and Jay set their sandaled feet on this street. They found a cheap motel to stay in once again. The main problem with this hotel was not all the holes in the window screens, nor was it the condition of the sheets or the bath room. The main problem Jay and Tone had was the overseas, tailor shop in the lobby that had Nepalese men relentlessly trying to molest them into buying shirts and pants every time they entered or left the hotel, no matter how many times they said no. These shirt brokers were as persistent as pine sap sticking to your hands, and just as hard to get rid off. They were the price one had to pay for a staying in a room under four hundred Baht in this hot spot destination. Jay bought one shirt, for more than the price of his room, just to get them to leave him alone. It didn't work. They now saw him as someone who could be persuaded and they increased their efforts to get him to buy more.

After evading shirt peddlers, drinking morning beers and taking an afternoon nap, the sun did its thing and rolled across the sky, then dropped off the edge of the earth. With the evening darkness came a cooler breath of air and the return of all of the city lights and evening creatures. Out came the vendors selling everything a tourist would want and many more things that they didn't. There were many varieties of Pad Thai noodles, and twice as many varieties of fried insects. Sunglasses, hats, shoes, shirts, sarongs, lights, lighters as big as your arm, statues, key chains, grooming kits, flying toys, crawling toys, eggs, pork, chicken and meats that you have never seen. It was a sensual blitzkrieg to the observer.

Jay and Tone holed up in a bright, little seating area that was green-scaped with many trees, potted plants and hanging orchids. The plaza was packed with people and they were lucky to have found an open seat. A girl wearing a skin-tight, spandex, green, Chang Beer dress that covered some of her bottom, served them drinks with a melting smile. Jay thought that she was absolutely eye candy.

"Jep Dtaa daaay!" Jay said, telling her that her she hurt his eyes. She smiled and melted him some more. He added that when he looked at her, he could not breath.

"Baag waan!" She told him that he was a sweet talker, and set two large bottles of Leo on the table before walking away and causing Jay and Tone to drool as they watched her disappear into the throng of tourists, who were all acting like tourists.

"Oh my Google!" Tone said, "If only she was wearing Leo shirt!"

¤

Lamai, if you could even call her that now, sat on a bus, staring straight ahead. She wore clothing to cover her skin as much as possible. The Hia had dressed her to cover her hideous leech-bitten skin. He applied a lot of talcum powder to her face to hide the bite marks. He showed her how to do this and told her to do it everyday. She looked like a typical teenager trying to hide pubescent acne. Her hair was not tied, but hung down over her shoulders and down to her ass. This too helped hide the pocks all over her skin.

The Hia did not want attraction to be drawn to her. He knew that if anyone found out about a walking dead creature, a Pee Dip, they would kill her quickly. The Pee Doot Lewat were acceptable, tolerated members of the population, because they were human. They were just different. But a walking-dead zombie was a monster. Monsters were feared and had no social function. They were abominations created by evil people for evil purposes, and everyone did agree that they could not be tolerated. Very few people had actually ever seen one. They were as rare as toilet paper in Thailand.

Lamai, or the bodily vessel formerly known as Lamai, had no more thoughts in her head, except for one. Move in the direction of this feeling she was drawn to. She was focused, single-minded and driven. Her feeling of vengeance and of hatred had changed now. Those feelings, and all of her emotions, had entered her mind for a short while when she was brought back, only to be lost forever. But the Hia used some of her own cellular memory to recreate an obsession to track down and kill something that the Lamai thing deemed as a bad thing, which must be destroyed.

It was impossible to say where her essence or her soul was now. It was not here. It didn't know where here was. Her soul drifted aimlessly in a bath of pure nothingness. It began to encyst, to become dormant. It had no purpose or reason or idea. It would only exist, like an idea that no one ever had.

Lamai, the body, accepted that this motorized, people-transporter, the bus, was moving in the direction of her attention, the incarnation known to her as Jay. She felt her current condition drawn to this being like an instinctual mating ritual calling the sea turtles back to their nursery beach or a salmon swimming upstream. Her muscles tensed as she thought of killing him. She was going to pull his body apart, one limb at a time, and eat him. She had no recollection that her previous self was actually in love with him on some level. She only had the Hia's input now, which was to locate and savagely destroy the farangs from the vision in the underworld.

¤

Sekott had regained some of his faculties and began to reaffirm his previous vendetta against what he was surely becoming. He did not hate himself, he seemed to not even recognize the fact that he was turning. He was a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black.

He was only focused on the idea of killing now. Killing Jay and Tone, killing the Pee Doot Lewat, killing that which was a sin was his goal. These people were sins in Sekott's mind, and it was his duty to eliminate sin. His mind began to rank those that should be exterminated in order. Laos people, Cambodian people, Burmese and then Thai. These sub-humans were a scourge to the earth he thought. A pure white God-fearing world was of course the natural evolution of society and the best possible scenario for everyone. Anyone who looked different than Sekott was obviously on the level of an animal.

Sekott, with his limited understanding and failing intellect, was barely able to purchase a ticket for a seat on what he thought was a low class, filthy, dirty Thai taxi. In his desperation, he agreed to pay ten thousand Baht to be taken to the city Mae Sot, near the border of Myanmar, formerly known as the Karyn killing nation of Burma. He was sure that he could locate the 'Red Farang' there. This would lead him to Jay, Tone and hopefully a means to begin destroying the vermin of the earth. He vaguely recalled that he had the idea of a cure for something, but dismissed this cloudy vision as poison that someone planted in his mind. The only thing left to do was to kill. How to kill? Gun? Knife? Poison? Strangulation? Teeth?

At this point in Sekott's transformation, he had crossed the half way point. The gas exchange going on in his lungs with his blood, was feeding more mutated cells than his regular cells. The new blood cells bathed his brain with new compounds, which gave him new thoughts and new ideas. His cognitive thought process was now becoming more instinctual and self preserving. Subconscious thought was more than ninety-five percent of what was leading him onward, and he was reverting back to lizard-brain thinking. Sekott's blood knew what it wanted more than Sekott ever knew what he wanted. The human part of him was warping and twisting, but his human thoughts were more pronounced and clear after he would feed.

He sat in the back seat of a taxi, staring out the window, almost not even realizing that there was another human in the vehicle with him. The driver tried talking to him several times, but Sekott didn't acknowledge his presence. He was lost in his twisted thoughts, seeing his ascendance to power and people below him dying at his feet. In these visions of grandeur, he was an almighty servant of God, and all things he deemed evil were destroyed by his touch and his presence. He barely had one foot in the conscious world. He was in a dreamlike state, and the dream was getting stranger and more perverse.

He was certain that he was here to serve a higher purpose. He had to stop Jay from finding a cure. The cure was no longer necessary, but a means to destroy all Asian people was the task at hand set forth by God. He saw God's face in a vision in front of him. The face was pure light at first, and then he saw the true face of God. He was looking at his own face.

He began to equate Jay with the leader of the Pee Doot Lewat. He reasoned that if he could kill Jay that he would have removed the head of the body of the beings that he despised. Jay became engrained in Sekott's mind as a priority because he believed that Jay had the power to stop his holy mission.

¤

Jay and Tone were surveying their possibilities around Khao Sawn clubs. In other words, they were looking for skin. There were foreigners from all over the globe here. Many of them were pseudo-hippie, back-packer types from, Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S.A.

There was a strong current of world travelers, trying to subsist on a shoe string, following travel guides, linking up and sharing information about what works, what doesn't, where the bargains were, what the scams were, where to sleep, where to drink and where to find some fun. Jay and Tone hooked up with a band of merry travelers, and they all sat in a dark, side street in a circle and passed around a chillum and prayed to Shiva and Sativa together.

This prayer was interrupted by the police, who demanded a thousand Baht or some one was going to the monkey house. Everyone pulled their resources together and emptied their pockets to appease the intrusion. After they paid, they had license to pray. They in fact now had protection, as these police did not want any other police tapping into their new finance fountain.

Just around the corner from the happy, smoky circle, touts were grabbing people on the street and giving them fliers, trying to pull them into clubs. "Ping Pong ! Pop Pop!" They called out. Jay and Tone, who were only minimally skilled at dodging touts, got coerced into hopping into a tuk-tuk and going to a ping pong show.

They were driven to a club area called Soi Cowboy, and directed into a dark bar and shown to a table near a stage. They ordered up some beers, at twice the regular price and waited to see what was coming. Lights flashed and raced around poles and corners. It had the feel of a Las Vegas stripper stage, with no building codes or regulations. There were two large men standing at either entrance to the large room they were in. These men wore dark glasses and stood with their arms crossed. There were maybe ten people sitting in this club, all farangs, all of them men.

Two sexy girls, wearing stiletto-heeled boots, a thong, and nothing else, walked onto the stage and the music began to blast. They did all the things that female dancers can do with their bodies. They snaked through movements, like provocative yogis. They elongated their figures, stretched into sexy asana positions and smiled through their very long eyelashes adorned with fake jewels and glitter. Men stared open-mouthed as they began showing more revealing poses. They hooted and hollered as these girls showed them their pubic mounds. Tone didn't understand what he was looking at when he saw dark slit running vertically between two swollen pussy halves that had no labia.

What he was looking at was very sexy lady-boys, and the audience just figured it out, most of them anyhow. The dancer's penises, which they still had, were tucked in between their balls and tied to a string which ran up their ass crack under the strip of the thong. A waist-belt of wire was also hidden behind the thong's horizontal equator. The thong and the restraining wires were a perfect way to conceal their sub-gender, the third sex. Some of the men in the audience started booing, but they never stopped watching. This was only the first act.

Next came out two girls and a shower hose. They positioned themselves in a tile basin for the water show that was about to start. They used a flexible shower head to soak each other down playfully. As their shapely bodies were sticking to their wet tee shirts and shorts, they undressed each other very slowly and shyly. The shyness was of course all an act. When they were totally naked, they took turns washing each other and lathering each other up. They seductively rubbed their bodies all over each other in slow, sultry movements that were flowing to the beat of the cranked-up, thumping music. Everyone was pretty sure these were really girls, and then, there was no mistake that they were girls, because they took turns shoving the penis shaped shower head into each other's glory hole. This drew some moans of disbelief and some encouraging cheers as well.

Then one of the girls placed the shower head between her legs and pretended it was her own boner. Boner girl pissed on the other girl with her water squirting accessory. Stage lights focused on the water stream and turned the water fountain into a golden colored shower. The other girl acted as if she were having a wild orgasm as the water spilled over her thrashing body. The color of the stream of yellow liquid changed to green, then blue, then pink and the dancers wet bodies were also being lit up with soft purple lights. It was a very intense, passionate performance and the crowd was very vocally involved. Jay stared on wondering what it would be like to be in between the two dancers. Tone shifted his body in his chair to reposition his crotch so that his hard on was not aching so badly.

Next, the girl being peed on crawled over to the hose wielder and began giving the shower head a blow job. The lights changed to red and the girl orally battled a 'red as blood', squirting, penis hose. It looked bizarre and mysterious, even ritualistic. The girl standing used a belt to strap this hose on to her waist and crotch, like a sex toy, and she began to fuck the mouth of the other girl with it. What looked like red blood spurting from mouth of the fellatio giver spilled all over her chest and tummy.

The music tempo quickened and so did the face-fucking. The girl who was swallowing began to gag and claw at the phallic wearing counter part. The cock-bearer rammed and thrust herself into the other girl's throat as she held her by the back of the head. The receiver began to flail her arms as the fountainous member in her mouth was filling her up with a flood. People in the crowd were now staring in disbelief as they watched a body collapse and go limp, falling to a slump on the tile. The girl still standing pissed on the still figure and the water changed from red back to gold. She laughed and threw her head back and urinated all over the pile of flesh with a mocking gesture.

One of the men watching stood up to leave and by the time he took three steps towards the door, two large bouncers helped him sit back down and told him that the show was not over. He started to get up to move towards the other door and two more men zeroed in on him and moved in. He tried to make a run past them and failed, being slung around the neck and waist and dropped back in his seat. The two bouncers chose to sit on either side of him. Jay looked at Tone, like, "Oh shit, here we go again!"

The music stopped, the flashing lights dimmed, the entire room went dark, and a single spot light highlighted a slumped over figure on the floor, who was covered in streaks of red blood. Another spotlight revealed the punisher, the girl with the shower cock. She began unstrapping it from her waist and she pointed it at the crowd smiling deviously, and then, the previously motionless girl stood up and smiled. Hose girl sprayed the audience briefly with a mist of water and then the two performers stood together, smiling, and took a bow.

Tone looked at Jay with wide eyes and began laughing crazily. Jay thought he just witnessed a live snuff film and had to drink the rest of his beer to come down. The two bouncers laughed and slapped 'Mr. Make a run for it' on the back. He laughed also and shook his head saying, "You got me!" Every one stood up and clapped and cheered loudly as the two girls bowed again and then walked backstage. "More Lee-os! Please!" Tone called out.

"Fucking shit man!" Jay said, "I about shit my pants!"

"HA!" Tone joked, "I knew they were faking!"

"You shit did," Jay rebuked, "You should have seen yours and everyone's face in the room! You all were floored like me."

"Yeah, maybe I was." Tone laughed, "But you wuz right about one thing. Dare is definitely bitches here!"

Next, a Thai VJ who spoke good English came out on the stage dressed like a suave airplane pilot and apologized for the dark erotic theater. He then asked if every one liked it. Everyone in the audience cheered and hooted loudly. Everyone had adrenaline flowing in their veins, This act always sold more alcoholic beverages.

"I want to ensure that every one here is PDL-free and safe, as guaranteed by the Cowboy Organization of Police, also known as COP. We can also help introduce you to PDL-free dates for your vacation stay, just check in with lovely Kik over there at the counter, our venerable mamasan. Well let's just have some good ole fun now!" The VJ spoke into the mic, "Give a big shout out for Halyconia and Lily!"

With that introduction, two girls strutted out onto the stage wearing two-piece, string bikinis. "They are definitely nine point fives on the dickter scale!" Tone leaned over and yelled into Jay's ear. The music was so loud that every one stood a chance of getting laryngitis if they tried to converse too often. Everyone cheered and cat-called as the two dancers did figure-eight catwalk routes around each other and the VJ who helped himself to a few gropes as they passed him. The girls protested in jest and softly spanked the naughty boy.

A sexy, strip show ensued as the music changed to something that sounded more like wild-west burlesque. Once again, two beautiful, shapely, Thai beauties, butt-naked, danced and posed for drooling old men who were acting like frat boys. Halyconia grabbed a handful of ping pong paddles and pointed them out to the willing crowd. As she walked through the audience, she smacked a few men on the thigh and passed out six table-tennis paddles to six happy men. Everyone was wondering what was going to happen next.

And then they knew as Halyconia handed Lily an orange ping pong ball and she slowly pushed it into her pussy. All of the dogs howled and shouted, "Go! Go! Go!"

Lily flipped over into doggy-style position and looked back at everyone smiling.

"Here! Here!" The dudes with paddles were shouting and jostling for position. Lily pointed to the left field area of the seats, like Barry Bonds pointing to his next homer, and let it fly!

The ball shot out of her twat with surprising speed and went exactly where she called it. A drunken Swede dove towards the ball and volleyed it back but fell hard and knocked himself out when his head hit the corner of a table.

"Dumb Ass!" Tone yelled, and snatched up the dude's paddle. "Gimme one babay!" And he smiled big at the ball-launching beauty. A dozen balls were launched and the boys in the crowd seem to lose interest and forget that there were beautiful, naked women in front of them. They became more focused on the sport they were now playing. It was a competition to return the most pussy-powered serves. Tone came in first. Jay thought that the girl must have liked Tone because the balls that her twat shot, flew towards his eyebrow level often.

Lily stood up and took a bow and then threw a handful of balls to the audience as souvenirs while the VJ collected the paddles. "More Leos! Please!" Tone grinned and yelled out his order. A break in the action gave the boys a chance to refresh their drinks, leave some fluid behind in the hong nam and flirt with the girls who were now walking around and mingling.

"Dude!" Jay yelled to Tone, "Did you hear them say the girls were PDL free?"

"Yeah," Tone said, "What the fuck did that mean? Praise da Lord?"

"No man!" Jay said, "I think that it means they are Pee Doot Lewat free! They are for sure not blood suckers!"

"Maybe he meant Pussy disease leaker or penis dick lingham free?" Tone rebuttled.

"I'm gonna go talk to the mamasan." Jay said, "I feel like cutting loose tonight, and I could use a little company. Safe company."

"Up to you!" Tone said, "Try to find one without a dick."

Jay's idea was correct, as the mamasan confirmed. These first-tier girls were one thousand baht per hour and two thousand for all night. Tier two, the dazzling beauties, including lily and Halyconia, were double the price. First-tier bar fine was five hundred and second-tier was one thousand. Jay wanted Halyconia badly and made arrangements with the mamasan. He was in lust with her name and her long legs, the degree of her butt-thigh-angle and her ripped stomach. Jay had no idea what Halyconia's special talent was, but he was about to find out. The mamasan told Jay that he would have to wait until the last show was over. She was going to perform again tonight. Jay saw this as foreplay-patience, and he used that time to get drunker and less likely to remember anything. Tone started chatting Lily up and asked her if she ever gave any Soon Baht Twat. "I have to take care of my family," She told him, declining his request for free sex.

Two thousand Baht later, Tone and Lily were heard making noises under a table, in the alley of a closed restaurant. Cats and dogs ran from the screeching and moaning sounds of these mating beasts. They came together quite seamlessly, no hassles, no hang ups, no pretense, no condom. They saved the bar fine and the cost of a room by screwing in this concealed place. Jay and Halyconia got a room close to the club. Everything was a drunken blur at this stage of the evening for the party boys. Jay stumbled along laughing, arm in arm with his new friend. She did her best to hold him up. Jay didn't remember her name, or that she could shoot darts and razor blades out of her vagina and pop balloons with amazing accuracy.

The stumbling pair, stumbled by an open shop door, and a tall Russian man peered out at them with non-blinking eyes. Halyconia acted like she didn't see him and led Jay down the street to the 'Sweet Love' Motel. Oleg pulled his gaze away and walked back into the door he had been glaring through.

¤

"OK, this is the deal." Oleg stated, "You take care of some business for me, and I will provide you with ten new Russian beauties every month." Oleg gave this as an ultimatum more than an offer, "Or, I kill you all right now and sell your skin to the burn victims I torched last week!" He said with a big smile to the three Hole in the Wall dancers sitting on his leather couch. They stared at him with bitchy she-male eyes and nodded in, 'well, I guess I have to' agreement. Their alternative to accepting the deal was fucking over the Russian Mafia boss and starting a gang war. "So," Oleg smiled again and put his hands together, "Do we have a deal?"

Ann, the tallest Hole in the Wall, stood up, to about two hundred twenty centimeters with her heels and looked Oleg in the eyes as she spoke. "OK Oleg, it's a deal, but the ladies you send had better be beautiful. We only drink the blood of beauties, of course you know." She gave a very sexy pose and smile as she grabbed Oleg's balls and then ran her hand up his belly, chest and neck, stopping with one finger on his chin. "How else do you think I can stay this sexy?" She smiled a bedroom-smile at him and tempted him to have a taste.

"Yes, you are beautiful," Oleg said, "But I am not much for eating sausage. I like fish, not a slippery eel like you!"

Oleg's phone rang and he answered it with a very impatient, "Hello. What do you want?"

A gentle voice on the other end asked, "Have you identified the three falangs?"

"Yes, Prat Ajarn. We know where the dark skinned one and the dark haired one is. I am still trying to locate the blonde man." Oleg answered in a much less impatient tone, almost a reverent tone.

"There has been a change of plans," the soft steady voice spoke, "Forget about the blonde man and the black man. The man with the dark hair needs to be implicated rather than killed. Can you still course correct?"

"Yes," Oleg said, "It is not too late to change the plan. Do you still offer the same price, and what do you ask me to do now, Ajarn?"

CHAPTER 26 DEAD GIRL

Jay knew this was going to be a rough morning before he opened his eyes. His head pounded as if he was suffering from the effects of a PDL 'sleep and don't remember' cocktail. I know I was with a PDL free date, so this hangover feeling must be the real thing. Imagine that!

The sounds of Mor Lum music woke him early. The Mor Lum music was a fast paced beat that sounded kind of rock-ish, kind of punk-ish and it was still going on from the night before. Its tempo was fast paced and accompanied by a collection of dancers, often wearing sexy clothing and very little of it. It seemed to be a total contradiction to conservative Thai culture, to have whored-up dancers shaking their shit to the entertainment of many drunken men. This particular party started the night before around dark and was still going strong at seven A.M. The party was in honor of the second year anniversary of the death of the grandmother of a high-ranking official. At least two hundred people, mostly from Isaan families, showed up for this event.

Relatives, friends, friends of relatives and so on, were all there. Little kids danced in between all the drunk boys ready to fight. Vendors set up selling snacks and drinks, but the guests all sat and drank bottles of Thai whiskey at round tables with blue table cloths and red resin chairs. Every table had a bottle of Blend 537, three bottles of Leo, a bottle of coke and two bottles of water. There was a bucket of ice with tongs and the usual variety of Isaan foods. This was the same as every party that ever was thrown in Isaan. The style was consistent with the tradition from the Northeast.

Tone's hangover was consistent with his daily ritual. Wake up and have a drink to get rid of the hang over, then work on the next hangover. Beer was Tone's big backslider, but it kept him grounded and helped him avoid becoming a corporate executive. He tried to block the sound of Mor Lum from his ears unsuccessfully.

Jay sat up and tried to open his eyes. They opened slowly and he decided he must be in a hotel room. Blue curtains, gray tile floors, a night stand with keys and a wallet on it, white bed sheets stained with blood. He looked at Halyconia's lifeless body on the bed next to him. Blood covered her body and the bed. There was a knife still sticking in her chest between her fake breasts. Jay threw up on her, on himself and on the bed.

Jay jumped off of the bed, shocked and nauseous. He was staring at the mutilated body of the girl he was loving the night before. There was so much blood, he couldn't believe that a body could hold that much. What the fuck happened here?

Jay's mind was flashing with questions. Who did this? Why? How? Where was I? What the fuck am I going to do? Could I have done this? Hell No! Jay couldn't take his eyes off of her. She no longer looked ravagingly beautiful, only lifeless and the color red. Jay was in shock. He had never slept close to a dead person like this. He was forced to look. His eyes wouldn't turn away. Oh my god! Jay began to throw up again as he ran into the bathroom.

"OK, Jay," He began talking to himself, "Everything is going to be OK. No it's not! I didn't do this. I'm not in trouble. I have to call the police. I can't call the police. They will think I did it! Who can I go to? I have to tell someone. Tone! No! I can't tell Tone. I've brought him into too much shit already. Oh shit! What am I going to do?"

Jay frantically washed the blood from his hands and body. He scrubbed so hard that he turned his skin red. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw fear in his eyes. He had no idea what to do, except for, run. He grabbed his wallet and phone from the night stand. He scanned the room for, anything that could tell him what happened. There were two Polaroid pictures lying on the table by the bed. They were both pictures of him lying on a bed with a bloody Thai girl. Set up, again. Or was I? I couldn't have! Could I?

The cops are out of the question, Jay thought out loud, grabbing everything he had with him, stuffing it into a backpack and getting the hell out of that room. The line had been crossed Jay thought. I am going to be wanted for a bloody murder in a foreign country and I am going on the run. It's now or never, all or nothing. I have to follow my path now, and I will deal with the law later. For now, I have to get this demon blood out of me!

He locked the door, ran down the steps and out the front lobby, not looking at anyone. He got in the first taxi he saw and asked how much it would be to go to Mae Sot. The driver told him ten thousand Baht. Jay offered five thousand and the driver agreed. Jay slipped down in his seat and called Tone.

"Yo Yo," came a voice on the phone, "Where you kickin it at, bro?"

"Hey man," Jay said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I am on my way to Mae Sot. I guess you'll be getting on a plane soon?"

"Oh," Tone sounded surprised, "I guess I'll see you next time, next time you want to get our asses shot at and stabbed."

"It's best that we make moves now, like we talked about before." Jay said.

"Yeah, well, I guess we didn't need to do an American goodbye or anything like that." Tone replied. "If you had to dip out, you had to dip."

"Look, man," Jay said, "I really wish you good luck, and safe journeys. But I have to warn you about something."

"You mean about the dangers of unprotected sex?" Tone said, "Don't worry, I have installed a cosmic energy condom that keeps out all dis-ease."

"No man, listen!" Jay pleaded. "Some thing bad happened last night, I don't know exactly what or by who, but you should not be seen anywhere near the area we went last night. You don't know me. You weren't with me. I think you should just get out of the country, this morning!"

"Whoa dude!" Tone said with confusion, "What the fuck did you do last night? I know that's the usual drunk ass question, but, really?"

"Man, it's best if I don't tell you," Jay warned, "Just, take care of yourself and we'll talk again soon. I am going to finish this trip once and for all. I have to get to the place where the man has the cure for whatever this thing is inside my veins. This will all be over soon, I hope! I gotta go. Peace!"

With that Jay ended his call and closed his eyes, trying to make all of this go away. It didn't work. This was the biggest pile of shit he ever stepped in.

Prioritize. Go! Don't get killed. Mae Sot. Red farang. Cure. Heal. Dip out of this country. Clean up any mess behind me, or avoid it, and start over. Jay tried to coach himself along. Why would someone kill that girl? Why didn't they kill me too? They didn't take her blood. There was so much blood. Was it Sekott? Hunger? Whose hunger?

Jay felt a hunger growing inside himself again. It started like a drumbeat off in the distance, barely audible, but getting nearer, louder, stronger. He was going to need to feed again. Nothing makes sense anymore. Who am I becoming? Am I going crazy? Do I want to turn? What is the alternative, being a regular Joe? Jay's mind was beginning to twist and warp. New neural pathways and networks were forming. A new instinctual philosophy was creating itself in Jay's brain. A feeling of immediacy became paramount. I'm so hungry now? Was I this hungry last night?

¤

Sekott sat on concrete bench watching people walk by. People stared at him as they passed. He was dirty, stinking and mumbling to himself. "Where is he now? He's in Mae Sot. I'm in Mae Sot. Where is he now?" Sekott said to himself, looping back to the question, "Where is he now? Red farang. Jay Michaels. Tone . Red farang. Jay. Tone. Red farang. Where is he now?" Sekott still had blood on his face from eating a rat he found trying to cross a street when it was still dark. His mind was blurred, but he stayed focused on three things now. A red farang, A white farang and a dark farang. Kill them all! He thought. One two buckle my shoe, three four stab them some more!

Sekott's Harvard brain was not of much use to him now. He was only acting on instinct and a heavily patterned thought sequence that he built up as he began turning. He had the strong conviction of hate for anything different. This stemmed from hatred for the thing that was inside him. He hated himself. He hated that he would be on the same level as the poor, uneducated, village farmers. He was always so esteemed before, and now, a commoner. From this deep seeded insecurity, a whole universe grew and blossomed. One branch was self righteousness. One branch was entitlement. One was sanctimony. Fear. Self loathing. Bigotry. Delusions of grandeur. Messianic complex. Savior of humankind. Paranoia. Self absorbed attention. Distraction. Loss of faculties. These all sprouted and became stronger with each passing day. Now, as the spells of madness between feeding became longer and more insane, Sekott was playing his end game.

A very tall and wide man walked by. He had very bright orange hair and a beard and mustache to match. His skin was covered with freckles every where and the most noticeable feature of this man was his face. A large red blotch covered more than half of it. Red farang, Red farang, Red farang! Sekott's thinking process kicked in and he realized that he was now looking at a red farang. This has to be the one. Nobody looks like this but him. There is a red farang here. This is the red farang. Red Farang. Red farang, red Farang! Jay will know him. Tone will come here! I can kill everyone together! Red, black, white, dead, praise God!

The large man wore a leather vest over a huge white shirt that blanketed his stout frame. He was carrying a cloth sack over his shoulder filled with greens and vegetables. Sekott stood up and started walking, following, spying. He was not very good at tailing someone. Had the man he was following not been a hurry, he would have seen his pursuer sneaking along behind him. The tall man was heading for a refugee shelter set up in a lot next to a temple. The temple had large domed structures with spires on top thrusting skyward. This was a typical sight in this part of the world, so close to Burma.

The streets of Mae Sot bustled with many people on foot, bicycle and motor bike. There were shops, stands and carts every where selling everything. The large farang gave the contents of his bag to a small skinny woman. The woman smiled widely and was grateful to receive the vegetables and rice he was donating. She was a worker at a women's collective that operated a shop and a food bank. Donations like this were necessary to help feed the hundreds of refugees that have no other means of providing for themselves. The kindness of the human spirit was alive and working here. Sekott's reddened eyes peered through shadows to see what was going on.

¤

The creature formerly known as Lamai got off a bus in Bangkok but the feeling she was drawn to was moving away from her. She felt a presence very strongly there recently but it grew weaker now. He had been here, the one she was looking for. Her muscles moved her to the street and she began to walk in the direction of the feeling that her inner, supernatural GPS was indicating. An ambitious taxi driver swung up beside her and asked her where she was going. She pointed towards the East and he shook his head and told her to get in.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked as he turned around to see an ugly little thing, wearing large dark sunglasses and too many clothes, he thought, "Should I start the meter rolling?" Lamai reached into her bag and grabbed a wad of bills. She reached her arm forward and dropped the money, well over ten thousand Baht, on the drivers lap. "OK!" he said, "Up to you!" He drove on following her pointing finger. The driver soon realized that the lady wanted to head East so he got on an express way and headed towards Khampeng Phet, the closest large city in that direction.

¤

Jay was fast asleep in the back of the taxi, dreaming about Ajarn Santee. He and the monk were walking down a sandy, sunlit path in the forest. Everything around him was glowing with the color green, like freshly washed and watered plants after a storm. Ajarn Santee was telling Jay about a red farang who knew the secrets of the universe, all of its energy patterns and transitions. The monk was explaining that time was not really part of any equation, it was just the perception of the distinction between one movement and another movement, but in reality, all movements and vibrations were one continual event. He went on to say that as humans, we could not possibly perceive the oneness of all possibilities happening at once, so we tried to do things like conceptualize time and create beginnings and ends. He told Jay that the poor human condition was nothing but suffering, and then he reached out and grabbed Jay's wrist and began to twist it to the breaking point, repeating, suffering, suffering.

Jay jumped awake, rubbing his wrist which was actually hurting. Was this really just a dream? The sun was starting to dip, as cooler evening air raced to overtake the hot afternoon. The cab was still two hundred kilometers away from Mae Sot. The structures people lived in were different here than what Jay remembered in Isaan. All of the roofs and walls were made from very large leaves that were folded and lapped like shingles. This area in the country seemed to be even more impoverished than Isaan. Jay was not thinking about the plight of the poor farmer though. He was thinking about eating something red.

¤

Lamai knew she was heading in the direction that she was programmed to go. She felt Jay's presence on this exact same road in hours previous. It was like a scent trail left by an ant for the next follower. It was like a moth moving toward a flame, a homing pigeon's total recall. A response occurred within her soulless thin body that resembled the emotion of excitement, the thrill of the chase, the tigress approaching her prey. Parts of her past living-body still tried to imprint the way they were used to doing. There wasn't a neural connection to process these ghost feelings. They were like an itchy phantom limb that couldn't be scratched.

She didn't know where these feelings were coming from, what they were, or what to do about them. She only could sense they were there. If she could have realized what her body was trying to say, she would have known that she was full of rage, with an anger that had been festering inside her, towards these farangs, towards these men, towards all men, towards her brother for raping her, towards her father for being poor, towards boys in school who physically hurt her. She would still be angry at her mother for growing marijuana in the mountains and making her work all night to care for the plants. She would have known that she hated her sisters with a passion uncoiled. She was motivated by hate her entire life. It grew like a fertilized and well tended field of rice, taller than all of her other emotions. The culture that taught her to hide her emotions did it very well. And now her emotions were hidden forever, even though they tried to express themselves in this temporarily traveling-vessel that knew only commands and emptiness.

But no, not a single emotion surfaced. No emotion could. Now there was only the body, broken and bitten, moving by supernatural forces that took the place of the body's own electric nerve currents. These currents were part of the spirit world that the Hia had one foot in much of the time. The Hia had gained power and favor in this realm, and now the energy structures that resided on these planes were at his service. The Hia was aware of everything Lamai's tenement was doing. He had an ethereal webcam of sorts that allowed him to peer through her eyes. He could even influence her chassis from a great distance, because they linked destinies back in Isaan.

He currently was in a deep trance and looking at the inside of a taxi and a world racing by quickly outside the windows, seen through Lamai's eyes. To test his influence on her carcass, he willed her to lift her hand. This test proved successful as he felt her raise her arm. He wanted to know if he could use his powers during a conflict. He might be able to assist in taking out the human threats when the time came. He now willed her to reach forward and slap the driver in the face, which she did. The driver responded by hitting the breaks and pulling off the road. He looked back saying, "What the fuck!" Lamai gave no facial expression or body movement. Then, as the Hia commanded her, she took more money out of her bag and threw it at the driver, pointing down the highway. "Man, you are a crazy bitch!" he said, "But as long as you keep throwing money, I'll keep driving. Just don't hit me! OK?"

¤

The taxi dropped Jay off on a road called Prasatwithi near the food market. His hunger had been getting the best of him and he could not focus on anything else. Jay walked down the crowded market streets looking for anything fresh. He eyed the section of the market that sold meat and fish. The smell was quite potent, and it excited him immensely.

He stopped in front of a table that had a bloody tray full of hunks of young cow being cut up. When the lady cutting the meat looked up and Jay had her gaze, he pointed to the blood and asked her if she would sell it.

"Can I buy it?" he asked, almost shaking with anticipation. She didn't say a word but nodded her head and reached under the table for a bag. She filled a pint sized clear plastic bag halfway full and sealed it with a red rubber band, and dropped that bag into another bag. Jay paid her thirty baht and hurried away. She eyed the farang curiously.

Jay couldn't wait to consume his purchase, and he stepped away from the busiest part of the street and bit a hole in the bag of blood with his teeth. He squeezed the bag and sucked on the torn corner, forcing the blood to squirt into his mouth. It was already cold and not very fresh. The taste repulsed him but he drank it like an athlete guzzles electrolyte beverages. It wasn't what he had hoped it to be, but it would do, for now.

With a new calm having washed over him, he breathed deeply and took a look all around him. Many of the signs were in Burmese, not Thai and everything from the architecture to the expression on people's faces was different. He thought that every one seemed less happy, less like they lived in the land of smiles. Many people wore a yellow powder on their face. Some people had painted it on artfully and others applied it with no concern for symmetry. For whatever reason they wore it, it added to the allure and mystery of this border town.

The market had many things Jay had never seen before. There was stall after stall of bowls of water containing live creatures. There were eels, frogs and turtles, snakefish, catfish, snakes, lizards, salamanders and leeches, all swimming in futility. The language sounded different. The food smelled different. The images of deities were different. Life was different. Maybe, I am different.

So where would I be if I were a red farang? Jay asked himself. He looked around him and wondered, Who is this man? Where is this man? Does he really hold a secret that can help me? Is this just a long crazy strange trip to a dead end? Where should I start looking?

Jay decided the best place to start looking was a bar. Lady Leo sat with him, but he was all alone. It wasn't the first time he was alone in this part of the world, a stranger in a strange land. When he first came to the Siam region, he came alone. He found his way without knowing ten words of Thai. He got lost, made friends, got drunk and high with a little help from those friends, went to school and found a job. But Jay had not been alone for a some time like this. He had his bros. Had, came to mind. Fucking Money! Holy shit! Money is gone, Tone is on his way to America, and Lamai! Well, the girl he sold the farm for was trying to kill him, still.

"I really know how to pick 'em," he said to his half empty bottle of beer.

To Jay's surprise, a couple of farangs sat down at a table in the bar he was in. He was always surprised to see farangs, because he thought he owned the Siam experience sometimes. He was always intrigued by the stories of people who also found their way to his paradise full of thugs and blood suckers. Jay introduced himself to the two men.

"Hello, Cheers mates!" He rarely saw other Americans so expected these men to be either Europeans or Aussies.

"Hello to you friend," one man said, "What brings you to this hell hole?"

"Hell hole?" Jay said, "Well, yes, I guess I have been through hell in this country, I am looking for a farang that my monk friend told me lived here. I don't suppose you know him? Well, I don't even know his name. All I know is that he is called, the red farang."

"Oh Red!" the other man said, "All the N.G.O.'s know Red. He's Mae Sot's very own vigilante humanitarian. My names Clark, from Australia, and you?"

"J... Joe Tompkins, from the septic tank." Jay decided to not be too public just yet. "Nice to meet you Clark and...."

"Daniel," the other man said, "Daniel Cornetti. Aussie at large. We're working for an N.G.O. called Karyn Free. We bring food medicine and clothes to the Karyn refugee camps here. It doesn't pay shit, but the hours are long."

"I have heard a lot about the Karyn refugees living in Thailand." Joe said, "Is it true that they have less rights than the stray dogs in Thailand?"

"Yeah, that's about right." Clark said, "They are fleeing for their lives in Burma, and when they get here, they have to beg for their lives to eat. They do find jobs, but getting paid is another story. I don't mean to sound depressing, but, it takes a hard shelled person to work this job. The only respite is right here, in this bar, in this bottle. Cheers!" Everyone clinked glasses.

"What's fucked up is that this bottle of beer represents a week or more wages for a refugee, if they get paid at all. All we can do is drink to stay sane, and live with the fact that most of the relief money pays the bills of the N.G.O. and very little reaches the refugees. But our man Red, he's a different story."

"I would love to know more about him." Joe said pulling up a chair, "Can I ask you to elaborate?"

"You can, and you did." Daniel said, squeezing Clarks thigh. They were obviously a couple. "OK, so, there is a buttload of..."

"You said buttload darling," Clark added.

"Yes. Clark, I said buttload. There are a lot of people interested in helping the Burmese refugees, especially the Karyn refugees, and there is a heaping, steaming, shit-pile of money contributed to a slew of charities and Non-Government Organizations that are working in this area. Unfortunately, the N.G.O.'s compete for the funds, and more than eighty percent of the cash pays hotel tabs and conference meetings and transportation for the big wigs flying out here to stay in big air-conditioned rooms to see how their money is being spent."

"Butt," Clark added.

"Yes, but," Daniel continued, "There are people here like Red who have had it up to the gills with the bureaucracy and began doing things on their own. He works with a women's shelter and spends every dime that he makes from internet fund-raising to buy food mostly, clean water and medicine. He spends the rest of his time working as a teacher for this poor lot. The man is driven. No one here can hold a candle to him. I don't know how he keeps up the fight. Most of what we do seems like we are throwing everything down and endless pit, and there are more refugees coming into the overfull camps every day."

"Wow!" I have to hand it to you guys!" Joe raised his glass, "You are doing some righteous work here, Thank you. Do you know where I can find Red? I would like to interview him for a paper I'm doing."

"Sure," Clark said, he is always at the Borderline Shop on Intharakhiri street. You will find him there every day. We know him as Red, but his name's Seamus"

"And what are you in Mae Sot for, Joe, besides drinking beer and asking questions?"

"My story is too long and strange to tell." Joe said, "All I can do is buy you guys a beer and thank you for being you and for doing what you do! Do you mind if I quote your information in my story?"

"No go right ahead!" Daniel said. "But what story are you referring to?"

"Oh," Joe started to reply and then censored himself, "I'm a freelance reporter for an obscure magazine. I want to write about the toils of the aid worker."

"Well then," Clark said, raising his glass for another toast, "Up your bum!"

"Yes! Up your bum!" Daniel added.

"Yes, up both your bums!" Jay, Joe, whoever he was, joined in on the Aussie way of saying cheers.

Jay bought his new, gay, Aussie friends a round and took off in search of the Borderline Shop. The shop front he found looked like a hippie, granola, art and crafts collective from any building on Carson street in the South side of Pittsburgh, PA. It had a soft but strong, woman's art style and demanded a nonchalant respect when you entered the building.

There were many paintings hanging on every available bit of wall space. The rest of the floor had racks and racks of hand made bags, shirts, teas, salves, jewelry and toys. There was a sign on the wall saying that eighty percent of the proceeds here went directly to a women's shelter. The place had the idealistic defiance that echoed of the protesting of the first Iraq war in any progressively thinking college-town America.

"Hello, can I help you?" A soft but powerful voice came from behind a rack of hand made cotton Jurgas.

"Hello!" Jay said, "I was wondering if you could help me find someone. I am hoping to find a man named, Seamus."

"Hello," Called a strong male voice in a thick Irish accent. "What would ye be wanting to talk to the likes of 'im for?"

"Well," Jay paused, "My friend, a monk, from Isaan, told me that I could drop off a donation here."

"Yes, you certainly can do that!" the very large red haired, red freckled, red faced man said as he walked towards Jay. "And what might this monk friend of yours be called?"

"Prat Ajarn Santee" Jay said holding out his hand in a gesture of greeting, trying not to stare at the large red scar or birthmark that was all too noticeable on Red's face.

"Well!" Red said smacking Jay on the back, "Why didn't ye say so?"

CHAPTER 27 RED MAN

"And what was yeer name?" Red asked.

"My name is Jay Michaels. I've been through hell getting here, and maybe it's not safe for us to talk in public. Is there somewhere that we can go that is out of sight and earshot of, police, mafia, bloodsuckers, thugs, assassins and evil women?"

"My friend," Red said, "I think you might be needing a swig from me home made whiskey. Let's take a short ride to my house and you can take a load off. And call me Red!"

"That sound's perfect," Jay said, "thank you Red!"

A local Song Taeow bus drove them and a dozen ladies with babies and shopping bags through the tight streets of Mae Sot. Red rang the bell from a button on the roof and the bus stopped so they could jump off in front of a row of drab concrete houses.

"Home sweet home!" Red said with a big smile, and gestured with an extended arm, "Please, won't you come in? I am giving you an invitation."

Jay entered Seamus' humble little abode. They sat down at the wooden table that was the only furnishing in the house. Mats and sleeping pads were folded and stored along a wall with many bags of clothing and shoes and personal sundries, all bagged up to go to the shelter.

"Please excuse my modest means," Red said, "I do not live in an air conditioned fancy hotel with an expense account like so many of the other humanitarian do-gooders that work here. I don't suppose you know of my job here?"

"I do," Jay said, "I met a couple of Aussies who told me a little about you. They said that you work for the collective that I met you at, and that you do it all on your own, with your own funds."

"That's right Mr. Jay," Red said, "and you can call me Red. Seamus is my given name, but only my mother ever used it. My mother went against the usual Catholic lifestyle that the people of my town subscribed to, and went of to find herself. What she found was Zen Buddhism and eventually met Pra Ajarn Santee, who became her teacher. After my father beat the piss out of both of us, she fled to Thailand with me as a young lad and we have lived in Thailand ever since. And how is it that you know, Ajarn Santee?"

"Well," Jay paused and looked like he was about to tell something fanciful and outrageous, "I am told you know about the Pee Doot Lewat. Is that correct?"

"Ah, poor lot!" Red said, "They have been treated as second class, much like the refugees. Yes, I know of them. I work with them to get help any way I can. My dear mother, gods rest her soul, worked as a human rights activist as well. That included the Pee Doot Lewat, who by Ganesha are human, and they deserve rights as well as any Kali-fearing man or woman. I have followed in the steps of my mother's work and have been helping the underdogs ever since. How is it you know of the Doot Lewat Jay, and how is my old friend, Santee?"

"Ajarn Santee is still smiling and still helping the community." Jay explained. "He was out in the hot sun fixing potholes in the road so people wouldn't risk an accident on their way to temple. He saved my life. As for how I know about he blood drinkers, I was drained by, two, not so nice, Pee Doot Lewat, and damn near died, but Ajarn Santee nursed me back to life." Jay grabbed the pendant on his neck and held it as if it offered his life protection. Seamus eyed it curiously.

"The problem that I now have, is that in order to cure me, Ajarn Santee had to give me an infusion of Pee Doot Lewat blood. This brought me back from the edge, and regenerated and revitalized me, but, as you probably know about the change the blood causes, it is also now changing me. I did everything that Ajarn Santee instructed me to do, physically, spiritually and mentally, but it has not been enough to stop the change. I watched another person undergo the change and it drove him insane. I fear I may meet the same end. Ajarn Santee told me that maybe you could help. I am so hoping that is true. You seem to be my best, my only chance."

"Wow! Lad!" Seamus said, standing up, "I think you have come to the right place..." He said smiling. Red walked over to a shelf on the wall and grabbed a dark bottle wrapped in a wicker bamboo weave and a glass. He sat back down and poured a glass half full and passed it to Jay. "...for a shot of whiskey! Here, my friend. Drink this down!"

Jay took the glass and stared at the amber liquid within it hopefully. "Chok dee!" he said, and swallowed the entire amount. Jay coughed and his eyes turned red. His throat was on fire, his eyes started watering, he got dizzy and his stomach burned. "Oh my god!" Jay coughed, "What did you give me?"

"Ha!" Red laughed, "That, was a just double shot of my weakest batch of homemade whiskey! Ye otta try me strong stuff laddy!"

Jay laughed, coughed, and then composed himself, "That's, very, tasty, not so weak!"

"It takes the edge off." Red declared. "It seems that you have had a rough go at things."

"I am sorry to tell you this," Jay said, "But I may have brought danger with me. You see, I have been set up, by, lord Vishnu knows who, and I have been running from the police, the mafia, gangs, and one very crazy blood sucking bitch! I woke up this morning with a dead girl in my bed lying next to me and pictures of me with her, dead and covered with blood, lying on the night stand. I'm telling you this because I don't want to put you in any danger, but I want to plead with you to help me any way you can, and I want to be gone before trouble gets here. Waking up next to a dead sex partner was quite unnerving, but even more unnerving is the lurking question, did I do it?"

"How was she killed my boy?"

"I don't know, but she had a knife sticking in her chest. I guess that's how she died."

"Did you recognize the knife that was in her?"

"Well, no." Jay said trying to remember. He pulled the Polaroids out of his pocket and looked at them. The knife that was visible in the picture was covered with blood and not very identifiable. Jay realized that he no longer had the rafter's knife with him anymore. Could that be my knife? Could I have been the one who placed it there, in her chest?

"I don't know for sure Red. I don't know what I am capable of any more. I can't believe that I would kill someone for no reason. But the body was in my room, under my name. If the Hotel had cameras, they will identify me for sure. I don't want to bring that here to you, but I don't know what else to do right now."

"Ha!" Red laughed defiantly, "It'll take an act of Ishtar to take me out! I can survive whatever they can dish out. I have been bitten, stabbed and jailed, and that's the best they could throw at me! Ha! Don't worry about me. I was blessed with the strength of ten buffalo, and the smell to match! Ha!"

¤

Sekott was watching a small concrete house from behind the trees that were giving him concealment in the back yard. He saw who he was looking for, that evil bastard Jay. He knew the time was close for a finale. He would kill Jay and steal the secret of the Red farang. He could then kill everyone he despised.

He thought of his wife Dang and the filthy offspring that he helped create. It made him sick to think of his member and his seed inside of one of these vile creatures. It also disgusted him to think that he aided in creating a mutant with these properties.

Sekott picked several large red ants from the tree he was hiding behind and ate them. He was focused on this house, and knew that his goal was close at hand. It would be dark soon and he would make his move, and end another chapter of this unholy story.

¤

Lamai was feeling the vibration of her objective very strongly now. The taxi that was carrying her was now in Mae Sot. She instructed the taxi driver to stop. He pulled over near the curb and looked back, only to see the back of a small lady running away. What a strange little bird! He thought.

The driver turned around and headed for the Morchit 2 bus terminal in Bangkok with about double the fare he would have expected to get. The one thing that was bothering him was the awful smell of a dead animal in his cab. That little bird of a girl must not have showered very often, he thought, or maybe she has a very stinky pussy. He stopped at a car wash on the way back and tried to get rid of the stench, without much luck.

Lamai was vibrating with the sensation of a small earthquake tremor. She walked in the direction of this feeling, guided from within, and especially from without. The Hia seeing this in his trance-state grew excited as well, knowing his job would be done soon. He was an ancient soul in an old body, and he sought to protect his bloodline. He could not allow a stupid farang to threaten his people's ways. He thought that farangs should have never been accepted or allowed to come to Isaan. They should have all stayed in that cesspool, Pattaya he thought. He also thought that Isaan should have become part of Laos, not Thailand, or maybe the people should have merged Laos into a new country called Isaan. Some day, he believed, Isaan would join Laos, and become one new nation. After all, there were more Laos people living in Isaan than there were living in Laos.

¤

"So Red," Jay asked, "are you certain that you are not concerned about police or worse people following me here?"

"They can't do any worse than they've already done to me," Red explained, "Go figure, but being a social worker seems to piss a lot of people off. I get in the way of them exploiting the down trodden. But, I think you will rest easier if we go somewhere secluded. Let's take a ride." Red grabbed a few things and stuffed them in his multi-colored, hand woven, cotton shoulder bag. The two men got on his motorbike, which sank low to the ground with the weight of the jolly giant, and they slowly took off.

¤

Sekott was not prepared to chase a motor bike and could only see the backs of their heads as they disappeared down the street. Sekott didn't know where they were going so he decided to stake out Red's house and wait for them to return. He sat down and began eating insects that crawled near him. When he became bored, he began to pull the hairs out of his arms, legs and scrotum as the sun began to set on him.

¤

Lamai arrived at the house where Jay had just been. She felt and smelled his presence very strongly. It made her shake. She began to feel another presence, target number two. The Hia sensed this as well. He thought it best that she find and dismantle the dark-haired farang first. The Hia had felt his vibration through Lamai. He was aware that the vibration of the blonde-haired farang seemed to be following the vibration of the dark-haired farang. He assumed that the dark-haired farang was the leader and was a target of higher value.

She felt the Hia's will and followed his direction by setting off to seek the smell of Jay's body. It had the scent of human and Pee Doot Lewat, both of these she knew. Both of these she was neither anymore.

She walked quickly down the road in the direction of the being that generated this smell headed, following the scent trail, the vibration ripple, the energy wake. Sekott watched the back of her body as she walked off and had the feeling that he knew this small figure. Could that be, Lamai?

¤

Tone was in the security-check line at the Don Mueang Airport, ready to hop a plane to Tokyo and onwards to LAX. He was bee-bopping some beats in his head and tapping them out on the queue barriers, lost in his lyrical world. He was working on a piece about his favorite beer and cigarettes, 'Leos and Wonder Reds.' The composition was named after beer and cigarettes, and was a condensed, carefully placed collection of words designed to invoke the real meaty essence of Thailand, not the flashy touristy promotion of it. Tone had culturally immersed himself with the common, working class, drinking crowd, and had a lot of fun doing it. The last year of experiences he had were the inspiration for this project.

He handed his passport to the attendant who scanned it, smiled, and asked Tone to step to the side and wait, while she signaled for the next person in line to come forward. Before Tone could ask why he was being asked to wait, two security guards appeared on either side of him and placed a hand on each of his shoulders.

¤

Jay and Red rode down a single dirt track path to a small lit up shack next to a small river. It was dark now and the bugs were flocking to the bright florescent bulbs in hordes. They sat down at a table and Red ordered some food and drinks for him and his friend. The frail woman taking his order gave him a big smile, as he was a regular here at this refugee bar. It was owned by a Thai man, who was sympathetic to their condition, and hired Karyn workers at a more than fair wage. Jay felt at ease here, and also felt the strength of the homemade whiskey. He felt no hunger for blood, and a calm relaxed sensation of well being.

"What was in the whiskey you gave me to drink?" Jay asked, "It was quite strong!"

"Ah!" Red grinned boastfully, "That was my own special brew, made from rice, herbs and roots. It is not just a fermented delight, but the ingredients will stave off the hunger of the blood, and quell the madness it brings. Here, this is for you." Red removed the bottle from his sack and handed it to Jay. "This will help you for now little friend!" He smiled.

"Thank you dearly!," Jay said, "I need some help for sure. The hunger gets so strong sometimes. I can't think straight. I get crazy. I've killed chickens! And Baphomat knows what else I've killed!"

"Let's hope that's all you've killed." Red warned, "Tell me more about the dead girl in your bed, and can I see the pendant on your neck?"

Jay removed the pendant from his neck and handed it to Red. He explained the events of the night before and of what he found in the morning, and was certain that he didn't kill the girl, but he had no proof. He did not have the taste of blood in his mouth that morning, so he wouldn't have killed her for his thirst, and he did drink chicken blood the night before so that would have abated his hunger. There was too much blood for someone else to have drained her for food, so he thought that it was not Pee Doot Lewat. Red listened intently and discerned that Jay was not a threat, not yet anyhow.

Red studied the pendant closely, shaking it, smelling it, listening to it. He handed it back to Jay. "Do you know that this is the mark of the Pee Doot Lewat?" Red asked,

"Yes," Jay said, "I'm not sure why he did, but a monk in Ubon Rachatani gave this to me. I think it gives me protection. Maybe it does not have supernatural protection but perhaps it suggests to others to leave me alone."

"I think it is a good idea for you to abandon this now," Red said seriously, "I don't think it is bringing you luck, or protection." Jay left the pendant lying on the table.

"So, Red," Jay looked pleadingly, "Thank you for the medicinal drink, but, can you tell me, is there a cure for the blood I have in my veins?"

"There is, and there isn't," Red began, "I have studied this for a long time, as has your friend Santee. We have worked with people to help them better adjust to societal pressures, and sometimes that meant not being different, as in having a diet of blood. There are several ways that we worked with people with this special condition.

First, we tried to make the hunger dissipate, as I have done with you with the whiskey. There are many different herbs and roots and leaves that help this, and as you know, a menu of animal blood helps. The animal blood deals with the physiological cravings as well.

Secondly, we focused on the psychological cravings with spiritual means. We promoted meditation as a means of centering and getting in touch with the true self. A person who better understands themselves and the world they live in can transcend anything. After all, if we are all divine, when we can recognize that, we lose the need to even have a physical form.

Along that thought, the connection to a higher power, a creator, a divine deity, whatever your flavor is, this holds great power. The power of faith is an amazing healer. I have witnessed this myself, watching my mother hang on for years past the termination date the doctor's gave her. She was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, but lived a rich life beyond all expectations. She did this with her new found faith in the power of meditation, instead of begging an old white haired man in the sky for help. She saw herself becoming that which is beyond manifestation. I'm not saying that the old white haired man can not be a powerful healing tool, he can be to the people that believe in him. She went past the upbringing that she had been indoctrinated into and sought to become one with it all. By the way, did I tell you about the Buddhist who ordered a pizza?"

"No." Jay replied.

"Oh, when he spoke to the pizza shop he said, make me one with everything! Ha!"

"Nice one Red!" Jay said.

"Anyway, lad, my point here is that a strong belief in something can be a very powerful tool. One of the things that I have found to be another powerful tool, is music. By listening, singing, dancing and chanting, people are moved to higher states. With the vibrational, synchronizing resonances of sound waves, one can become the healing energy they seek. Cultures have used music for identity, energy, emotion, faith and for atonement with the oneness of it all.

The last thing I can tell you about is that the combination of all these elements I have just described to you make up spirit. Spirit, along with the four earthly elements, complete the magic circle and a complete transformation can occur. You, Jay are the magic of the spirit, and I can see you are strong in that aspect. I can help you know where to collect the other four earthly elements, and these, along with your own power, well, it's up to you, but I know that people can heal this condition, and I believe that what is inside you can do it as well."

Jay had goose bumps as he listened and completely resonated with the words he was hearing. Red reached into his sack and pulled out a packet wrapped in a silk pouch. "This contains the element of fire." Red began with a very stoic look on his face. "These are the ashes and body fat of the late holy monk, Luangpu Pupan. When he was cremated, these remains were saved as a relic. You must combine these with the other three earthly elements of air, water and earth, along with your own power, and you will achieve your goal.

You can travel north from here to Mae Hong Son Province, to a mountain village called Mae Aw. If you ask at the tea shop with the round doors, they will tell you where to find Gwangg. Gwangg is also a friend of mine and Santee's. He knows about ingredient which represents the element of air and can help you with that aspect. He should also be able to tell you where to find the ingredients for the elements of water and earth. When you have all these elements, and mix them together, you must then ingest them and pray like a holy man. There has only been one other person to complete this infusion, but nobody knows what became of her.

I know you will be fine my friend, but I suggest you keep moving. If the police are looking for you, you have to avoid the main road between here and where you are going. There are many roadblocks where they will check all vehicles for proper documents. Because of the huge infusion of refugees, they guard the roads well in this neck of the woods. Here, take this too."

Red handed Jay a fake Canadian passport, a work permit and a compass. The picture slightly resembled Jay, except the man in the photo was bald. He hoped it would be good enough to say that he grew hair if he had to show ID.

"Ajarn Santee didn't tell me much about you Red." Jay said. "In fact, he was rather obscure about you altogether. You are such a good guy, why didn't he tell me more about you?"

"We were all once very close, but that has changed." Red said, "We also promised to conceal each others identity and not speak of each other. Since Santee sent you to me, I knew it was not a trivial gesture by his holiness."

"Well, I owe you a great deal my friend!" Jay said shaking his hands. "I am going to leave before I attract any negative attention to you. Thank you for everything you have done for me, and for everything you do for the people here. You are truly a good man!"

"Don't mention it lad." Red smiled a huge grin, "We all have our calling. When we find it, we stop searching and the real work begins!" Jay was getting ready to take off on foot when Red called to him. "Jay," he said, holding up a set of keys and motioned to his motorcycle, "Take this, you need it more than I do."

"Thank you Red," Jay said, "I will get this back to you, and more, and please take this, maybe you know what to do with it." Jay handed him the pendant he had been wearing since Ubon. Red put it around his neck and gave Jay one of his huge smiles.

¤

Lamai had the sensation that Jay was close. She could feel his heartbeat pulse now and began to move faster. Her fists clenched and her fingernails dug into her palms. She ran alongside a river and walked through the river when the foliage was too thick. She abandoned the road with his scent when she zeroed in on his pulsing blood vessels. She had a strong link to this blood in his veins because it was once inside her veins. The energy-skeletal matrix of these blood cells were imprinted in her own DNA.

She broke into a run and splashed through the shallow water, heading for a body on the shore ahead, but all of the sudden, the body was moving away at a fast pace. She caught a glimpse of Jay's back as he drove off on a motorcycle. Lamai felt Jay's energy getting more distant as she tried to close in on the essence that was him. The Hia felt this also and realized that the dark-haired farang was moving by vehicle again. She was so close to taking him out, but things changed again.

The Hia gave her subliminal instructions to locate a taxi again and head in the direction this farang was moving in. The Hia was extremely frustrated and smashed some bottles as his helper Ice cowered in fear. The old sorcerer didn't have enough insight to know that the man who was the real threat, the man with the possible death sentence for the Pee Doot Lewat, was his bypassed, second-highest target of value. Had he known, he would have had the walking Lamai-carcass eliminate him already.

¤

Sekott waited for a couple of hours until he saw lights come on in the red farang's house. He was surprised because he didn't hear a motorbike pull up. He crept closer to have a look through a crack in a window. The large man was moving some bags around and filling them with items he would take to the shelter in the morning. Sekott tested the front door and it wasn't locked. He was carrying a machete that he took from Red's neighbor's back porch. It was long and heavy and black with age but it had been kept very sharp for slicing bamboo.

Sekott let himself in and gave a little fake cough to the large man who had his back turned to him. Red turned around, startled, and shouted, "What do you want? Who are you?"

"I-I am looking for Jay. I know you were with him. Where is he now? Tell me or I'll cut you open!" Sekott was feeling especially bold, actually crazy, and he was confident that he could slay the giant of a man, but when he said the words, 'cut you open,' a new feeling emerged, one of hunger. He thought of what human blood might taste like.

"Why would you want to do that friend?" Red tried to calm him down, "Let's just have a talk and I'll see if I can help you. What's your name lad? What can I do you for?"

"You can tell me where Jay is," Sekott insisted, "and you can tell me how to turn a blood sucker into a d-dead person. I know that you know how to do it, so t-tell me, tell me now! Or so help me, I'll carve you open like an animal carcass."

"Whoa, son," Red pleaded. He could see that this farang was off his rocker, probably driven mad by the change occurring in him. He thought that maybe this was the person Jay spoke of, but Jay hadn't mentioned that this chap was following him. Red looked around the room for something to use as a shield. "Let's just sit down and have a drink."

"I d-don't w-want any thing to drink!" Sekott stuttered, "How do I poison the v-vile creatures that live in this country? And where can I find J-Jay? I have to g-give him something."

Seamus had slowly been circling around the table, to avoid this man's striking range, and was also trying to get into a position to flip the table over onto this intruder's body so he could make a run for the door. He thought he could squash this little bug, but he would rather let the police deal with him than explain an injured, or dead, farang in his house. But as he moved a little closer towards the table, something in Sekott snapped.

All Sekott could see was the color red and blood. He didn't even know what he was doing as he repeatedly flayed the skin of the gentle giant wide open. In Sekott's mind, he was God's avenger, fighting a red dragon-demon for a crusading campaign. Everything was red, because Seamus' blood was pouring out everywhere. Sekott had landed a few fatal blows by slicing his neck open, giving the jugular vein license to flow freely. Seamus crumpled to the floor, holding his neck, and holding the pendant Jay gave him. He muttered one last phrase as he felt his world going dark, "Blessed be!"

Sekott was breathing in wheezing gasps and drooling as his body shook with adrenaline. He dropped the blade when he saw that the beast of a man had stopped moving. The hunger within him was overpowering and forced him to the floor. He began to lick the puddle of blood that was on the floor and growing bigger. Sekott stopped licking and began to slurp and suck the blood up. He was laughing and crying and mumbling to himself about God and angels and demons.

Nothing he said would have made sense to anyone, and it didn't have any true meaning. The man was insane, his body could not handle the change. He was not in control at this point. Blind, primal, lizard-brain took over and 'fight' won out over 'flight.' Sekott drank Seamus' blood until he was full. After feeding, Sekott took the pendant from around Red's neck and hung it around his own. It bore the mark of two Nagas over a holy Monk. He then lie on top of the large dead man. Holding and hugging him, he wept.

CHAPTER 28 SALAWEEN

Jay drove all through the night on twisting, bumpy, mountain roads. He had purchased a map when he fueled up at a gas station in Mae Sot, but because it was in Thai, he could only go by the numbers of the streets, which he found were not very accurate at all.

Jay also bought new clothes and a razor, which he used to shave his head, to look more like the man in the passport photo. He avoided the main route, which followed the Salaween river and took any road he could to the east of it. Jay managed to avoid almost every road block, sometimes by luck, because the soldiers were sleeping at night, and sometimes by backtracking and taking a different road. He felt like he was making good, unimpeded progress, but as the first light of dawn lit the horizon, Jay came over a hill going fairly fast and had no time to turn around. At the guard station he just drove into, all the guards approached him immediately.

A camo-clad soldier, with a machine gun strapped around his shoulder, held his hand out and spoke a blend of Thai that Jay didn't recognize, but he knew what the soldier wanted. Jay handed him the two small booklets that he was carrying and smiled the best fake smile he could muster. Luckily, teaching in this country, had given him plenty of opportunities to practice his fake smile skills.

Jay said, "Sawasdee krub," in his best Canadian accent, but no one from this region would recognize the subtle differences between a Canuk and a Yankee. The guard looked at his passport and work permit and showed it to another soldier, also carrying a machine gun, and they both stared at it perplexed. One of the men walked over to the guard shack with the documents in hand. Jay tried not to show his nervousness or that he was about to shit his pants and take off running as a last resort.

A fatter man with a different hat and no gun emerged from the guard shack with Jay's documents in hand. Jay was sweating everywhere. He thought This might be the end of my days of freedom. At least it means I can stop running, but would they kill me, or put me in jail? Why didn't I look at those documents before I got here? I am going to miss my daughter? Which direction is the best to take off running in?

The captain of this outpost looked at Jay curiously and then pointed to the 'valid till' date on the work permit. It had expired months ago. Apparently the Passport was valid but the work permit was not. Jay gave up his idea about running, and decided it was better to just stop here. With a feeling of defeat, but relief, he looked at the boss man right in the eye.

"What do you want me to do?" Jay asked in Thai. The guard informed him that he must go to the immigration office in Mae Hong Son and get his work permit renewed. Jay felt elation as he became extremely apologetic, cooperative and grateful.

The fat man gave him a paper with an official stamp and his signature on it and told him to present it at any other roadblocks he entered. It would allow him passage without guards having to waste any more of their time dealing with stupid Canadians. Jay smiled and drove on, shaking from that last round of intense emotions. As soon as he was out of sight, he took a giant swig from the bottle of whiskey his friend gave him.

¤

Lamai followed Jay's trail, like a tiger on the sent of an injured antelope. She managed to avoid all of the same roadblocks Jay did because she was only about a half hour behind him. The motorbike could handle the winding turns and the gravel surface a little better than the taxi she was in.

The driver kept the window open, because his passenger smelled worse than plah daeg fish sauce being boiled. This was the smelliest fare he ever had, and he could not wait to get her out of his cab. He would have kicked her out already, but, she dropped a large pile of bills on his front seat, and for him, money was the only dance there was.

They kept driving, wherever Lamai pointed to. The driver never had a fare quite like this one. Usually he knew where he was going and could turn on a meter or quote a price. Now, he had to follow a pointing finger from a strange, quiet, little, stinky girl.

They came upon a road block, that was stopping every vehicle to check ID's and passports. They were looking for illegal aliens, in other words, Burmese refugees. They were also looking for opium traffickers, gun runners, and last on their list of priorities, human slaves.

The driver handed his passport to the guard who approached them first. The soldier, dressed in camo-fatigues and wearing an M-16 around his neck, also packing an M-150 in his side holster, looked at the papers and then handed them back. He then bent down and peered into the back seat and asked the driver for his passenger's papers.

The driver asked the small girl, wearing a denim jacket, black leather gloves, long black pants, dark sunglasses and a lot of powder make up, for her passport. She looked Thai enough but they couldn't tell for sure with all the clothing she had on. The guard recoiled a little and scrunched up his nose in response to the smell coming from the cab. Lamai just sat there and didn't move.

The guard asked the driver if he was transporting plah daeg. The driver shook his head and bend his head in the direction of the girl. The guard asked him if his passenger shit herself. The driver nodded and gave a facial expression like, 'yeah, maybe.'

Lamai just sat there as if she was unaware of anything going on around her. She felt Jay's presence moving still and felt the sole need to follow. She tapped the driver on the shoulder and motioned him to get moving. She was not consciously thinking but reacting to the sensation she was feeling, pursuit.

The guard seeing this grew angry and banged on her door. She didn't move. The Hia was busy yelling at Ice, and was not scrutinizing his zombie's situation. The Hia was also going to abuse Ice one more time in a way that Ice hated more than anything else.

Lamai sat perfectly still with her hands crossed in her lap. The guard told the driver to get out of the car, and another guard forcefully directed the frustrated cab driver over to the guard shack, took his keys and helped him to sit down quickly and aggressively. At the same time, four guards were surrounding the cab at all four doors. As if she were waiting for a the seasons to change, Lamai, the rotten-smelling zombie just sat there, not at all concerned with the goings on around her, only wanting to move forward.

A soldier opened the driver door and pressed a button to unlock all the other doors. He succeeded in locking them all, but with three more pushes of the buttons, all the doors became unlocked. Each soldier in turn opened a door and pointed in a loaded machine gun at the little, putrid girl. They yelled at her to get out, which again, she ignored.

They began shouting at her, and a guard at the station turned a gun on the driver upon hearing the noise. The driver put his hands up high.

At the surrounded taxi, a guard grabbed the rank female by the arm and pulled her out of the car. He was amazed at how strong she was as she resisted him. This was not part of the plan in killing her target. Noxious Lamai did not know what to do. She had no instruction for this. The Hia had given her no input, no course of action.

The soldiers dragged Lamai's fetid, resisting body over to where the driver was being detained. The soldiers began shouting in her face in Thai and in Burmese. "Where is your passport? Where are you going? What is your name? Are you listening?"
At the same moment, the Hia was pushing Ice out of his shack and telling him to go tend to the buffalo. After calling Ice a stinking, buffalo hole, he sat down in front of his altar and let the wanderings of his sordid creation come back to his attention. His attempt to descry was blurred at first by a barrage of fast moving green colors. As the vision clarified itself, Hia realized that she was looking at army soldiers at a roadside checkpoint. He could make out about six bodies, one of which was not wearing a uniform. This was not good. This interfered with his plan immensely. He grew incensed and used that enraged agitation to send the walking dead girl an abundance of his strength and fury. "Kill them all!" The Hia shouted in his spying trance.

Lamai felt this and turned on like a switch. Her head turned towards the guard closest to her and she thrust her extended, flattened hand into his throat. With her nails piercing the skin, she reached right into his esophagus and severed every vessel and tube. She turned her head in the other direction and with her other hand, preformed the same gory surgery on the next guard in line. She threw these two bodies at the other two soldiers surrounding her. Their guns went off but their bullets only hit the ground and threw soil showering.

A pile of bodies, some dead, some screaming and trying to get up, is what the boss of the guards saw as he came running out of the guard shack, having heard gun shots that interrupted his soap opera. He grabbed the M-150 from his holster and fired two quick rounds into the air.

He had been in a closed room in the guard shack while the interrogation was going on, as he didn't leave his room unless he had to. This room he used for sleeping, watching TV and occasionally raping female refugees who didn't have proper clearance.

As he was firing his gun and surveying the scene, he was puzzled to understand what had happened, surely this little bird of a girl could not cause this commotion. The boss turned to see one guard on the side of the building with his gun pointed at a civilian cab driver. He looked wide eyed terrified and were paralyzed from fear and unable to move or react. He saw two bodies down and two trying to stand up. He ordered them to shoot, but he didn't know at what.

The soldiers that were knocked over by their murdered comrades bodies struggled to get out from under the lifeless bodies and get in a position to fire on the girl. Lamai pounced on one guard, before he could stand up and twisted his neck a hundred and eighty degrees, snapping his spine and ending his threat. The other soldier, managed to get out from under the body of the man on top of him, who was his brother, and got to one knee and fired a burst of rounds at the attacking wild woman. The boss saw this and fired as many shots as he could at her also. Bullets passed through the raging girl's body, but only made her jerk slightly as she continued her assault. A spray of bullets tore off her sunglasses and chunks of her rotting face. This was the last image the soldier on one knee saw before her hand grabbed his neck and choked the life from him in seconds.

The boss fired his entire clip into the ghastly girl and was trying to reload when she stood up and leaped through the air, landing on his chest and knocking him over. She raised her hand high and then punched through his rib cage and crushed his beating heart into a pounded fillet.

The taxi driver and single remaining guard ran into the guard shack, entered the small room and locked the door. The guard grabbed a two-way radio and was about to give a distress call when the door to the room shattered and a wild, enraged, tiny, she-demon came clawing through the splintered remains. She used her fingers like claws and ripped skin and limbs from the two men. In a frenzy of swings, she tore these men apart, spattering the guard station with blood, tissue and organs. There were very few screams, and no one heard anything, except the Hia, who saw everything through her eyes. He looked on and grinned, with a pleased smile.

¤

Jay stopped in Mae Sariang along the Salaween River to refuel Red's motorbike and refuel himself with some rice porridge. He was so grateful to have met Red, for granting him the use of this motorbike, and to learn all that he did from him. This was truly a good man, perhaps a Bodhisattva.

He remembered Red's words, "We all have our calling." Red surely knew his. If I were not so self-seeking and penis-driven, maybe I could be more like Red and serve the greater good. Maybe I am serving it now in my own drunken, horny way, but, someday, I want to be more pure of intent and as selfless as Red. "When we find it, we stop searching and the real work begins!"

I guess I have found my calling, for now, to heal my body and then, well, I guess I am still the fool, still searching. My true calling is not to just heal myself, but to bring healing to the world. Maybe I can do this with everything I have experienced and will learn. Maybe, soon, this search will be over, and, my true work will begin.

Jay bought ice cream for a couple of kids that were playing on the sidewalk where he had stopped for a break. They were playing with sticks and an empty plastic bottle, and having the time of their lives doing it. It reminded Jay of the freedom of preconception, and pure innocence that children embodied naturally. Jay was happy and feeling really good about this day, having no clue of who and what was after him or what had happened to his friends Tone and Red.

Jay was now deep into Mae Hong Son province and was a tank's worth of gas from Mae Aw. He would be following the Salaween River the better part of the last stretch of this ride. This was the river so many Karyn people knew as home and as hope to escape persecution if they could safely cross it. The Karyn were predominantly not Pee Doot Lewat, as Jay would soon find out.

¤

Still sitting in Red's house near a pool of dark, caking blood, Sekott was starting to regain some of his senses, having fed on blood the night before. He freaked out when he realized that he had killed a human being. This was the first time in his life he ever took the life of someone. He could not accept the immense guilt that accompanied this action in the eyes of God, so he shifted his blame to the vile blood sucking beasts that made him do this. It was their fault.

If he had never met his wife, Dang, he would never be here now. He realized it was all her fault, he thought. This was a perfect delusion and displacement of responsibility for his feeble mind to accept. Dang did this, that filthy, blood-sucking animal. I must avenge this poor dead man. I must find Jay and the means to kill all bloodsuckers. I am God's instrument of purification. I am a good boy. My mother always said I was a good boy. Sekott sat against the wall with his arms wrapped around his knees, rocking back and forth, staring at the large, lifeless, bloody body in front of him.

¤

Lamai received further direction from the Hia, who was trying to cover her tracks. The Hia had no real knowledge of this part of the country, its political situation, its languages nor its culture. He didn't know about refugees or Burmese soldiers torturing, raping, killing and maiming thousands of Karyn people who fled to Thailand for their lives.

He didn't know why Lamai, the smelly petit zombie, was being restrained by military personnel. He just knew he had to end this soon or his creation and his mission would fail. If he failed the spirit world, he would surely have a very high price to pay.

The Hia forced Lamai, the pungent undead girl, to open the gates at the check point so all traffic could go by without stopping. He influenced her animated corpse to drag all of the soldier's bodies behind the guard station and out of sight from the road. He determined it would be good to disguise her as a military person, so he demanded she put on the uniform of the smallest soldier she had just killed.

He also had her wrap her entire head with a tee shirt to conceal her gender and her drooping, reeking flesh. She now looked like a farmer-soldier in very baggy clothing. He instructed her further, to find keys that would operate a motorbike, and take a gun with her as well. The Hia, satisfied this would conceal her for a while, commanded her to pursue her objective with great haste. She kick started a motorbike and sped off towards the vibrating object of her destructive goal, with gun strapped to her side.

Lamai's body was now filled with many oozing bullet holes. A brownish, blackish gelatin slowly bubbled out from her open wounds. If any one had been left there to smell her, they would have smelled the odor she emitted of decaying, rotting, dead flesh that was potent enough to cause a dead man to vomit. The bullets that hit her would have surely killed any human, but her injuries barely slowed her down or inhibited her. They only served to allow more stench to pollute the environment. Even the detritus-eating insects that tasted her flesh did not want to eat of it.

Lamai's small frame, dressed in baggy, army fatigues, with an M-16 on her back, her head bound like an Isaan farmer, was flying down the highway at a hundred fifty kilometers per hour. The motorcycle she stole was a 250cc mountain model and could overtake most Thai motorcycles. She looked a little out of place with her small body and baggy fatigues, but many Thai men were small. Had she been a man, not a zombie, and had she tried to join the military, she would have been denied entrance, because she was under one hundred sixty centimeters tall.

This didn't matter now, to her of course, and to the Hia for sure. There was one final set of tasks for her, to kill Jay, to kill Sekott and to return to the Hia for rest. The Hia never intended to give her rest. He would use her to whatever twisted or perverted means he had determined productive or enjoyable, until she decayed so badly that she simply fell apart.

This was the Hia's first reanimation of a human type, and he didn't know the subtleties and nuances of quality, undead construction. Lamai's body was rotting off of her bones as if she were already dead. It was only the will of the Hia with the aid of summoned spirits that moved this sack of spent flesh another step. Considering how long she had already been decomposing, she would be reduced to a puddle of goo and bones before she ever returned to Isaan.

Lamai sped along, past Mae Sariang and followed the easily identified trail of Jay's corporeal wake. She had not considered the amount of fuel in her tank, as she could not actually consider anything. She didn't have a consciousness, a mind, a soul or a clue, only a master, or a collection of supernatural bosses, animating her for supernatural agendas. She could feel Jay's presence growing nearer, and the Hia's sight, along with the spirits' power, gave her non-living musculature the movement and motion needed to accelerate the throttle. Somewhere in the void, Lamai's essence, unaware of what her body was doing, was silently screaming.

Jay sped up steep mountain roads, steeper than he imagined possible, and found himself high in the mountains with beautiful forests and tea and coffee plantations all around him. He passed through Karyn and Lana villages and began to see the fabled long neck women of the Karyn tribes with their gold rings extending their elongated collarbone vertebrae. Jay's libidinous nature wondered what it would be like to neck, with a long neck. Did they have more square inches of erogenous zone because their necks were longer?

After wandering where in the world he was for a long time, he reached what seemed to be the end of the road, and there, on his left, was a tea house with round openings in place of doors. Jay pulled in, wiped the sweat from his face, and walked into the quaint little tea shop that was erected partially over a lake.

There were kids on the deck, fishing underneath a garden of hanging orchids. The cutest little girl he had ever seen greeted him and offered him a small cup of tea. It was on a tray, and was the size of a shot glass, but porcelain, and was covered by a slightly larger, similar porcelain shot glass.

Jay didn't understand what to do with this, but the girl showed him how to flip the two glasses over, remove the one on top, smell the empty glass as you would a wine cork, and then slowly sip the tea from the bottom glass. Jay was intrigued with the artfulness and ritual of this process and thought he should drink more tea.

The walls of the tea shop were covered with bags and packages of all sizes and colors, filled with many different kinds of teas, most of them grown nearby. The center of the store was a series of shelves containing every type of dried fruit imaginable.

Jay had walked into another country he thought, and he was partially right. These were Yunan province Chinese people who settled in northern Thailand, trying to escape the Chinese Communist expansion of Mao Tse Tung. The Chinese people named the village Mae aw, which translated to, Ruk Thai, meaning Thai loving village.

Jay greeted the cute little girl with his best Thai hello, but the girl didn't follow him and sent a little boy, her brother, to go and get their mother. While he waited, Jay sipped the tea, which was a light green color, smooth and light with floral undertones. He realized that in this simple cup of tea, there was a world to be discovered in each sip. He thought that his life was much like this, and vowed at that moment to savor as many sips as he could. He forgot for a moment why he was even here.

A tall thin woman came into the shop, waied Jay and spoke, "Welcome, may I help you sir? Is there anything you are interested in tasting? I would recommend you try the blue cloud blend. It is light and flavorful, and the leaves are only harvested during a gentle rain shower."

"Thank you," Jay said, "I would love to taste that style, and a big thanks to your little helper who served me this wonderful tasting tea, and showed me how to drink from these glasses. I have never seen that before."

"Oh yes!" the kind women boasted, "This is my lovely and smart daughter, Ling, and my name is Soonan. She showed you the way we drink tea in the province of Yunan in China. It is still practiced here, as tea is our way of life."

Soonan set about boiling more water to prepare another sample for Jay. Jay introduced himself and flattered her by expressing how beautiful her shop was. Jay couldn't help staring at Soonan. She was not drop dead gorgeous, or sexy, but was pretty in such a simple and real way, much like the tea he just tasted. It didn't have the strength of bourbon, the tang of gin, nor the bite of tequila, but the tea, like Soonan, was flowery, with the clean scent of the mountains after a rain, and maybe some honey, nectar and fruit. He imagined her as an exotic, special wine that he had never tasted, but had admired the bottle that contained it. She set about placing dried leaves into a cup, tidying up the shop a little, and dropping some food pellets into the lake for the fish to eat, as an offering to Kwaan Yin.

Jay snapped out of his day dream as Soonan handed him another tray with the double glass ensemble. Jay showed his skill by flipping the glasses and sniffing the top one. Soonan smiled, delighted that a foreigner had come so far and was showing respect. As Jay sipped the tea, which he liked even better than the first cup, he looked at Soonan until she blushed and turned her head.

"Excuse me Soonan, but I was wondering if you could help me," Jay implored, "I am looking for a friend, of a friend. I don't really know him, but it is important for me to find him. His name is Gwaang, and it was suggested to me that someone here at this shop might know how to find him."

Soonan's face grew very serious and she looked down at the floor, as she asked, "Who told you to come here?"

"Well, the man's name is Red, or Seamus. Do you know of whom I am asking about?"

"Please come with me," she said, "and what was your name?"

"Jay," he replied.

Soonan led Jay to a table out on the deck and shooed the children away, telling them that their mothers were calling them home to eat. With a few deflated looks, they abandoned their fishing poles and went scampering off like geckos. Soonan was on the phone right away, and seemed to get no response. "I can't reach Red to verify what you say is true. He's not answering his phone right now," she said, "what is your business with Red?"

Jay took a bottle of home made whiskey out of his sack and showed Soonan. "Red gave me this," Jay said. "It's the only thing I can show you that he gave me." He didn't want to show her the ashes he had. He didn't know for sure if he could trust her yet, even though she seemed like a very honorable person. "Oh, and I have Red's motorbike." Jay said pointing to the bike parked outside. Soonan glanced at it and saw Red's bike, complete with all of the 'Free Burma' stickers all over it.

"OK," she said, "I believe you are who you say you are. I know about Red's whiskey blend and I for sure recognize that motorbike. It is a wonder the shocks haven't busted under his weight." With that comment, Jay knew that she knew Red, and his trust grew.

"Can you put me in touch with Gwaang?" Jay asked, pleadingly.

"Gwaang is my husband," Soonan explained, "He isn't here anymore, it isn't safe for him to be here, but I can take you to him, if you can wait till it gets dark in a few more hours."

"OK," Jay said, "I will do whatever I have too." Jay spoke these words in ignorance of the knowledge that the speeding corpse of the stinking Lamai was closing in on him again.

¤

Tone was taken to a detaining room at the airport and locked inside, with his flip flop sandals taken away. "How you think I'm gonna hang myself with flip flops mother fuckers?!" He yelled at the small metal reinforced window in the steel door. He had not been told a thing about why he was detained and wondered what the fuck was happening now. Is this because of Money? Because of Jay's last phone call warning me to stay away? Was this about that weed I stashed on the way into the airport? Back taxes? Contributing to the corruption of the morals of a minor? More mafioso crap?

After about an hour, the door opened and three men wearing black suits with dark sunglasses hiding their eyes, walked into the room and surrounded Tone.

"I see you are wearing ties." Tone commented, "This is Tie-land after all."

Not one of the men even cracked the slightest smile. Three more guards were standing outside the door as it was closed and locked from the outside. "Do you know why you're here?" One of the men asked.

"Yes," Tone quickly replied, "You are all trying out for the 'Men in Black' convention and you want me to play the part of Will Smith."

"Mr. Tone Norman." The stoic man said in a monotone voice, "Do you know where Jay Michaels is at this moment?"

Tone looked him straight in the dark glasses and asked, "Who, mother fucker?"

¤

Repugnant Lamai was North of Mae Hong Son, the provincial capital city, when the motorbike ran out of gas. All she could do was sit there, on the bike, on the side of the road. The Hia realized what had happened and grew more angered again. He did not wish to keep up with modern technology, but for this event, he had to think progressively.

He counseled Lamai to find someone driving a motorbike and pull them off of the bike and take control of it, using it to continue her pursuit of the dark haired farang. Lamai spotted a man on a motorbike moving slowly and as he passed, she clothes-lined him by the neck with her arm and dropped him backwards off of the bike.

She jumped on the seat and drove off, leaving the stunned ice cream salesman confounded that his ice- cream cart, motorbike had just been stolen. Lamai sped off at full throttle, and the shade umbrella on the traveling shop flew off and collapsed on the road. The Hia shook his head in disbelief as he watched this scene unfold.

A small shrouded soldier flew up the highway mountain roads at full throttle on a motorbike with a blue insulated box attached to it labeled 'Ice-sacream' in Thai. The box was supported by a third wheel, to make it function as a side cart. Inside the box were frozen confections such as ice cream blocks on a stick for five baht, frozen pops for ten baht, and frozen yoghurt and fruit pops for fifteen.

The prices were all listed on the side of the box, but this driver wasn't selling any goodies. As the bike sped by at high speed, kids ran out to meet it and then had sour faces when the cart whizzed by and didn't stop, still playing melodies kid songs from a speaker attached to it. The bike was pegged at seventy kilometers an hour and the ice cream cart was shaking wildly. Lamai sped towards the vibration she was sensing with as much haste as the bike she was on would allow.

¤

Sekott fell into a deep sleep on the floor of Red's house. He was assimilating the blood he drank into his system and his body was recreating itself. The madness began to subside a little while he slept so he was not tormented by demonic dreams. Rather, he saw an angel appear to him, coming down from above in a beam of golden light. The angel had the sweetest, kindest face he had ever seen. Its compassionate features soothed his troubled mind and he felt a great sense of peace. He wanted to ask it what he should do next, but before his words could form, the angel's face began to change.

It warped, twisted and shook and eventually took on the image of Red's face. Red looked sternly into his face and said, "I was not ready to go! I still had work to do here!" Sekott began to become frightened and panicky, and then the angel's face changed again.

It twisted into another familiar face. This time, it was Lamai's. "I am going to kill you, you little piece of shit!," she said, "When I catch up to you, I will rip your head off and feast from your neck stump!"

Once again the face changed, and the compassionate angel, stern Red, crazed Lamai, turned into Jay's form. It spoke to him, "I have the cure, and I can help you. It's not too late. It's up to you!"

After the image of Jay spoke these words, the angelic vision faded, and so did Sekott, back into a fitful restless sleep that gave him no solace.

CHAPTER 29 SOONAN

"OK, Jay," Soonan said, "Let's go!" Jay got on the back of her motor bike and they headed down a partially paved road to the west of the tea house. Soon, the road became dirt, and then they turned off of this double-rutted trail onto a single-track cow path. The branches of shrubs and trees smacked their arms and legs as they cut through this maze of trails. They drove for a half an hour through the darkness in a labyrinth of vegetation, but Soonan navigated it from memory and she did it perfectly. They stopped on the north side of a sloped, domed peak and then turned the bike off, stashed it in the brush, and walked for another fifteen minutes. Using no lights, they came to a stop at a barbed wire fence.

"Jay," she spoke very seriously, "Whatever happens next, I can't help you. You are on your own. Do you understand?"

"Thank you for everything Soonan!" Jay told her as he gazed into her eyes, showing true appreciation, admiration, and a look of longing to have someone like her in his life. "I am indebted to you and will repay your braveness, kindness and helpfulness someday if I can."

"Just do like I told you." she said, "Head west for one kilometer and then blow the whistle I gave you. If you are approached by Burmese soldiers, tell them you are a lost backpacker. I will try to contact Red and get his motorbike back to him. Good luck Jay, and may you find what you are looking for!" With that, Jay crawled under the fence into Burma and Soonan walked out of sight into the night.

¤

The bike started to slow down when Lamai began to climb the steep mountain roads, and because her zombie form did not know about shifting gears, she just ran the bike until it could no longer climb. The bike then stalled and started to drift backwards, she turned the handlebars slightly and with the backwards momentum, the bike flipped over on its side and the ice cream cart flew open, spilling it's contents all over the hot pavement. The ice cream began to melt instantly and the ants moved in right away, as if they had been on call for just such an event to occur. The dry ice began to create a small cloud of white smoke as it converged with the asphalt.

What was a Hia to do. He had a clumsy oaf for a helper around his farm, stupid people showing up throwing inorganic pieces of machinery into his feeding pond, along with poisoned flesh, and now he had zombies that he created stealing and crashing ice cream carts on public highways.

The good thing was, her target was very close. The Hia instructed his non-intelligent creation to move by the soles of her feet at great speed directly in the direction of her obsession. He asked the spirits to send her extra strength and speed so that she could travel there as fast as possible. She obeyed and sped off into the forest, making a bee line for the vibrations being emitted by the one named Jay, who she could sense was not moving quickly anymore.

¤

Jay crouched low as he walked, intent to not be seen or heard. He took off his sandals and walked barefoot, as to not make any noise. The fact that it had rained recently helped with the silencing of his footsteps.

Jay was in the country of Burma now. After he crawled under that fence, he was in the country of a hostile military rule, with atrocious human rights offenses. There was no amnesty or political immunity here. Reporters, monks, children and women alike were killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Burmese army was even known to come across the border into Thailand to take reprisal on those who fled there for their lives. Jay did not want to think about what his fate would be if he were captured on this side of the fence.

About a kilometer in to the west, Jay stopped, got down low and listened intently. All he could here were the sounds of insect and frogs. There were no lights and no trails to follow. This was about as deep down shit creek Jay had ever been, save those times he unknowingly was almost killed. This time, he put himself there in shit creek, but, he did have a paddle.

Jay blew the whistle the way he had practiced it. It made the call of the mountain bamboo partridge. This bird was common to the area and not suspect to enemy soldier ears. Jay waited for a return call.

Soonan had called a contact in Burma who would tell her husband, Gwaang, to meet Jay at the proposed rendezvous spot. Despite Soonan's innocent looking features, she was involved in an international smuggling route. The tea shop served as a cover, and was originally her only business, but now, opium was moving through her hands more than the tea was, and it brought a much better profit.

Gwaang was a member of the Karyn National Liberation Army. He became involved in opium trafficking when he was a young boy. At the time he was about ten years old, growing opium was not a serious offense, and many of the hill tribes farmed it and sold it for medicine. They also used it regularly as well, and many became addicts to its powerful narcotic properties. But growing it was easy, and the addict suffered mainly by the physiology change in where he or she became lazier.

It wasn't until military leaders discovered how much money they could make off of the flow of this potent plant, that it became a bad situation for the hill tribes. Before the military bosses got involved, opium was a way of life for a peaceful, agrarian, tribal society, who viewed it as a gift from the goddess. It was said that Kwaan Yin saw the suffering and pain of the humans on earth and she wept for them. Everywhere her tears hit the ground, a flower grew that would alleviate their suffering. Her tears were the seeds that grew opium poppies.

A shrill hoot answered back in the darkness, three times to the two Jay gave. Jay gave back a call of three hoots. A moment later, two hoots answered. This was the secret call Gwaang and Soonan used to meet up and transfer packages. She would bring medicine, money, guns and ammo, and Gwaang would give her packages of opium, wrapped in tobacco and tea leaves. Soonan gave these packages to certain customers who came to buy tea regularly. From there, she wasn't sure where it went, and she didn't care. She was just glad when it was gone. She transferred the opium out of service to her husband, but never used it herself.

Jay peered into the darkness, trying to see anything. All he could see was shadowy outlines of the thick vegetation that was all around. Suddenly, he heard a noise of something rushing at him form his back. As he turned to face the noise, a body sprung through the air and tackled him, knocking him off his haunches and setting him prostrate on the ground. A hand covered his mouth and he felt a cold steel blade on his neck. "Why do we sing like birds?" a low voice rasped in his ear.

¤

Sekott had slightly regained some semblance of human-ness. He regained some faculties and some reasoning power, and began to revise his plan. He sensed that time was running out for him. He had already killed an innocent man, so what else am I capable of? He wanted this whole thing to come to a close. It was time for a final chapter in this mess that started with him seeking some adventure, a quiet, village life and some good local intoxicants.

The memory of those days had been buried away now. He knew only one thing for sure. All of his problems were caused by the Pee Doot Lewat, so they must be destroyed, and Jay had the connection to do this, he was certain. Jays Michaels' brother! He was cognitive enough at the moment to reason that he could use Jay's brother as a tool.

Sekott had forgotten the idea of using the red farang's help which he had eliminated the possibility thereof. He had to get to Jay, some how, but where was he. He needed to get in touch with Jay, go to where ever he was, and make Jay give him the medicine that could kill all Pee Doot Lewat, including himself. He knew that he was beyond help now, so the last thing he could do would be to take every last one of them out with along with himself. He was relaxed in this new revelation that made so much sense to him now. And he knew, also, that he had God's blessing, and he would meet the creator soon.

¤

"We sing because the music sets us free." Jay said in a whisper, repeating the words Soonan told him to say when he was approached on the other side. The hand let go of his face and the steel withdrew from his neck.

"Nothing left to do but sing." The man issued the final part of the password.

"Gwaang?" Jay whispered.

"Shhh!" The darkly clothed being shushed him. A man, dressed all in black pointed to the north. He started running in a crouched position in that direction and Jay followed as fast as he could, trying not to make any noise.

The two runners moved in a northwesterly direction for about an hour and they came to a clearing where the dark figure stopped. "Do you have something for me?" he asked of Jay. Jay nodded and pulled a packet out of his pocket and handed it to the man. It was the package containing the ashes that Red gave to Jay.

Soonan told Gwaang everything about Jay and asked if he could help. Gwaang agreed, because he knew Ajarn Santee and Seamus, so he instructed her about what to do in order to send this farang here. He told her to instruct Jay to bring something that proved who he was and would prove to Gwaang that he was not a spy for any government, mafia or military operation.

The dark person studied the contents of the package, smelled it, tasted it, and then said, "Sawasdee Jay. I'm Gwaang, and I think I can help you, if you can do something to help me."

"I will do whatever you want!" Jay said, "Thank you for meeting me."

"Alright then," Gwaang said, "We are going for a ride. You need to hang on for your life."

Gwaang pulled some branches off of a motor bike and got on. Jay sat behind him on it and put his arms around Gwaang waist, and his feet pushed into the foot pegs. He could feel that Gwaang had a gun on his left side and a large knife strapped to his right. Gwaang didn't start the bike, but pushed it a little ways and then he said, "Hold on!"

The bike started to roll down a hill with the engine off. The roll accelerated into a high speed descent and Jay was holding on for his life, literally. In neutral, the bike was approaching seventy kilometers per hour and bouncing with every rut and rock they hit. They were getting off this mountain in a hurry.

The angle off descent plateaued out and then with a huge parting of the red sea effect, the bike plowed through a creek, sending waves high into the air on either side of them. Gwaang let the bike drift start and they raced out of the creek and up the side of another mountain, with the bike bouncing and fishtailing, as Jay was hanging on for his life.

Gwaang drove his bike, hand built and extremely modified, around the mountain on a traversing path and then descended again in what was a teeth-clenching ride for his passenger. After following a stream for another fifteen minutes, they climbed one more mountain, without Jay falling off once.

On the north slope of this mountain was a flat area where Jay could see the outlines of huts and other structures. Gwaang rolled up to a halt, killing the engine fifteen meters before he stopped. When the bike stopped moving, Jay saw the figures of several people surrounding them and guns were clicking and pointing at them.

"All clear, not followed." Gwaang said and the dark figures backed off. Jay and Gwaang got off the bike and Gwaang led Jay to a bamboo hut, past the people who approached them protectively. They went inside and Jay was asked to sit down by a very tiny woman. A small oil lamp was burning and Jay could see two small children were in the hut as well. Jay smiled at them, but they gave no response at first. Jay then gave them a goofy smile, his sticking tongue out of one side of his mouth and his eyes crossed, which brought some giggles. They where shy and they buried their faces in the tiny woman's shoulder.

"Shhhh!" She shushed them and Jay apologized. Gwaang took off his gun and knife belt and hung it on a hook by the door. He sat down on the grass mats on the floor with Jay and the other inhabitants of this home.

"Jay," Gwaang introduced, "This is Aon and her children Fai and Fah." The small lady waied Jay silently and put her children's hands together to make them wai in respect as well. "Jay is going to help us with our problem." Gwaang said to Aon.

Aon smiled and waied Jay again, saying, "Kob Kuhn Kaaa! Thank you!" Jay didn't know what he was going to help them with, but he knew he would do anything he could.

"For now," Gwaang said, "We smoke."

Gwaang gathered a few things together and sat down on the floor with Jay. "You can never speak of this place Jay," Gwaang instructed, "or what you see here. This is a peaceful Karyn mountain village, but in order to live at all, the Karyn national Libertarian Army has to protect them. That is where I come in. My father was an American soldier during the American war on Vietnam. He met my mother during that time, and she was left with a child. My family never saw him again, but my mother always waited for him to come back. She made sure I learned English so I could talk to him when he would come back. She never saw that day happen. When I was seventeen years old, she died, and I was passed around between relatives until I ran away and ended up meeting a mercenary who brought me here to these mountains.

I learned the Karyn ways and became a young member of the KNLA. We fought the Burmese army on this side of the border, and the mafia and military bosses on both sides of the fictional line separating Myanmar and Thailand. Anyway, I am still here, growing and moving the medicine, and protecting the tribe. I used to live with Soonan on her side of the border, and tried to have a more simple life, but fate did not have that in store for me. This is my place, my work, and my life. And no one can know about it. Understood?"

"Understood." Jay said, realizing the seriousness of the warlike situation he was in now.

Gwaang had a bag next to him and he took out a long wooden pipe and a jar full of a black tar looking substance. He laid a wooden block in front of him and sprinkled some tobacco from a pouch on it. He used a bayonet knife from an American M-16 rifle to chop the tobacco into a fine powder, with the finesse of a skilled, French chef. He then took some of the tar out of the jar and rolled it in the tobacco until he had a ball of not-so sticky-goo. He placed this ball in the pipe, picked a piece of straw from the grass mat, lit the straw on fire from the oil lamp, and then used that as a match to light the substance in the pipe.

Gwaang took several short puffs to get the ball burning, then took one long and deep inhalation to fill his lungs. He closed his eyes, rested his hands in his lap and sat in a meditative position for a few seconds before exhaling. The room filled with a rich exotic scent, floral and sweet, perfumy and deep. It was intoxicating just to smell the burning opium. The smoke was thick and tantalizing and mesmerizing as it rose from the pipe. Gwaang handed it to Jay.

Jay considered refusing, but thought it was best he comply with the, 'when in Rome' treatise. He savored this incredible flavor and taste in his mouth, and when he exhaled, the taste changed and tingled the tip of his tongue. He felt an immediate high like ganja would give, but it was a higher resonance and seemed to be activating a lower chakra at the same time. Jay felt his whole spine relax and a cloud of peacefulness settled over him. Before he drifted any further, he handed the pipe back to Gwaang.

To Jay's suprise, Gwaang handed the pipe to the child next to him, who looked not even ten years old. The skinny little girl, Fai, took a puff and handed it to Fah, who also took a small puff. Aon did not smoke any, perhaps she was the baby sitter, Jay thought. Jay felt the irresistible urge to lie down, and when he saw Gwaang do exactly that, Jay followed his choice of posture. Gwaang smoked the pipe again while lying on his side. He was going to offer it to Jay again, but he saw Jay had his eyes closed already, and a big smile on his face.

Jay slipped into a dreamlike world of vibrant visions. As hot as it was in this little hut in the mountains, Jay found himself walking through white crystal ice caves. He was dressed in elaborately adorned oriental clothes that felt very natural for him to be wearing. At the end of the cave, an opening led into a huge sunlit valley surrounded by a bowl of mountains. People of a different color greeted him there, speaking a different language, but he understood every thing they said.

"Welcome to our village. Please, we hope you will stay with us for a while. Today is a day to celebrate, as a new life has been born unto us. Come sit with us and drink from the horn of merry."

Jay walked hand in hand with two lovely ladies who led him to a beautiful, simple little house on stilts. They walked up the stairs to the house and went inside, to see many people gathered. Inside, the house was huge and there were forty two people sitting on the floor around a baby. They were talking and singing and passing around a bull's horn full of a drink that never became empty. When Jay drank from the horn, he tasted sweet wine, and could taste the sunshine and the rain on the grapes it came from. He tasted rice sugar and ginseng. He tasted clear water from a melting glacier and a hint of salt that had come from somewhere deep within a mountain that was millions of years old.

The wine made him drunk and soon he realized that he was not in the house anymore, but was sitting around a fire, with the same people from the party, although everyone was dressed differently, and looked differently, as did he. They all looked like First Nation People of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. Jay sensed that they were the same people, and they were still singing and talking in a different language that he didn't recognize, but still completely understood what everyone was saying. They were telling and singing stories about the creation of the universe.

A lovely Apache maiden sat down next to Jay and asked him how he had found his way to this circle. He thought very hard, and then realized that he couldn't remember. Without answering her, she told him that it didn't matter, as long as he was here. She asked him, "What is on your mind?"

Jay thought deeply about this question, and realized what was on his mind, questions. "I would love to discuss them with you, if you would like." She said, having read Jay's mind. It seemed to him that he was not able to speak, but she understood everything that he thought. Jay still had his senses. He could feel the heat from the fire, and hear its crackle. He could hear the voices of people singing, and the words of this lovely girl. Who is this incredible person?

"My name is Lumi," she said, "Please, I want to show you something, please look up." Jay tilted his neck back and put his gaze above him seeing billions and billions of the brightest and most beautiful stars he had ever seen. They were glowing with every color that existed and some that didn't. He felt himself spinning and swimming in these stars like an ocean of phosphorescent little beings. The smell of the smoke from the fire seemed as ancient as the stars, and he realized that he had sat around this fire with these people since the beginning of creation.

"Why do we speak so many different languages?" Jay said, really wanting to know. "Why do we have the ability to make only a certain amount of sounds with our mouths? What communications are universal, beyond language? Why are we in these bodies? Do we choose these incarnations we are in? Is reincarnation as simple as it sounds? Are we confined to reincarnation only on this planet, or can we reincarnate on other planets? Other Universes? Other dimensions? Am I just an intergalactic tourist and is this body just a rental unit? I feel like my life is a hedonistic vacation at times, but I still wonder, what are parties like on other planes of existence? What do beings do to alter their states in other dimensions? Where do we go when we die?"

"Jay," Gwaang said, shaking his shoulder as the dreamer babbled on, lying there on the floor with his eyes closed, "Jay, you need to be quiet. We can not make too much noise here. Who were you talking to?" Jay opened his eyes to see the walls of the room that he had been smoking a pipe with Gwaang in. The visions were gone, for now, but Jay's head was still dizzy. Jay felt like he lost something important.

He asked, "Why am I always in a hurry to get somewhere when I am already there?" Gwaang gave him a puzzled look, not knowing what he meant. "You just had a dream," Gwaang said, "The spirits of the flower are strong."

Jay sat up, looking at the faces in the room. The faces of the two children were horizontal, as they lay next to their mother drifting off to a peaceful sleep. Aon lay down too, holding her babies, giving them the reassurance that only human touch can give. Gwaang was sitting up and looking at his guest to make sure he was OK. He didn't know if Jay could handle the power of the flower he grew. He asked Jay, "Are you OK? Can you understand me?"

"Yes," said Jay, "I was just having the most fantastic experience with...." The woman's name escaped his mind. The whole vision was fading like a dream does, when you open your eyes and first wake up.

"Jay, I want to give you something now." Gwaang said holding out his hand. "This is the manifest component of the element of air," he said as he dropped a packet in front of Jay. The packet contained a collection of dried purple flower petals. "These are the petals of the opium flower, but not just any flower." Gwaang explained. "These flowers were fertilized with the remains of Luangpu Pupan. They were fed the same ingredients as what is in this package."

He dropped at Jay's feet, the package of ashes and body fat that Jay gave him earlier. "Now you have the elements of fire and air. Ajarn Santee showed us how to do this long ago, but time has created distance between us all, and we no longer stay in touch like we used to. I don't know if Red told you, but he and I were monks for a time, studying at the same temple as Ajarn Santee. Ajarn Santee was always a rebel, and didn't accept anything until he understood it for himself. He was a good teacher, but not an orthodox one."

"Ajarn Santee never told me that." Jay said, "I wonder why he didn't bother to tell me that about Red who he sent me to find. And why did he never mention you? Surely he knew that I would need to contact you as well. Gwaang, why did he keep that a secret?"

"Because we were all sworn to secrecy." Gwaang said, "There are four of us who were a part of this cure in the past, and Ajarn Santee was our leader. We helped heal one person before, and it worked, but not perfectly. This person who was healed also committed a grave crime after we gave the cure. Because we didn't want to be implicated, or have that happen again, we all vowed to never speak of this without the witnessing of another part of it. Because you showed me the element of fire, I can show you the element of air."

"Ajarn Santee knows about the element of earth," Jay asked, "So who is the person who is connected with water?"

"She was a young girl, living as a Mae Shee, a lady monk. Her name is Sabine. She is a beautiful half-Shawn and half-Australian girl. Ajarn Santee had a short, unapproved love affair with this element of water. This girl was very powerful, more than any of us. She could command the element of water in ways no one had ever seen. She was the main congealing force between us and our work to create a cure.

We only helped someone with the cure once, and then, after the illicit affair, we all went different ways. We all held a part of this cure, and Ajarn Santee held the element of earth. It was agreed that we should save our components for the future, in case we ever needed it again, so we have all maintained infrequent contact to know where each of us is living.

You are the first person to ever talk to me about this cure. Like I told you, we can't speak about this process to anyone because of our vow, and we also agreed that if we were in the presence of someone in possession of one of the elements, that we could offer them our element, but we could only direct them to the next person. Only the person who represents their element can actually tell you what it is. We tried to put several safeties in place so that this magical process would never be exploited or abused. You are the first, Jay, to gain any of this information."

"Why didn't Ajarn Santee give me the element for earth?" Jay asked, confused.

"Maybe he already did." Gwaang said.

"You can take these two packages, that are symbolic of fire and air, and tomorrow, I will have someone lead you back across the border, into Thailand." Gwaang explained, "Once you are back in Thailand, you will need to travel to Sop Pong, and go to a place called the Hole in the Wall. It is a small resort that only a select few of us know about. Sabine is there and she will give you the element of water, which she so beautifully embodies."

"But I still have no idea about what or where the element of earth is?" Jay asked again.

"I can not tell you anything more." Gwaang said. "I am bound by my oath. But, because I risked my life and my livelihood to help you," Gwaang proposed, "I think it is fair that you help me in return."

"OK," Jay said, "I told you that I would do anything I could."

"I know you can do this," said Gwaang, "It is just a matter of if you want to."

"What is it?" Jay asked, "What do you need?"

Gwaang looked at him with a commanding stare, "I need your blood."

CHAPTER 30 CEREMONY

The door to Red's house slowly opened without making a sound. A black glove turned the door knob and the Thai man fully dressed in black that was wearing that glove, slipped inside and began silently surveying the room. He spotted Red's body on the floor and the drying puddle of blood that surrounded him, along with some bloody foot prints that were showing the direction of a departure. The man was carrying a gun strapped to his side and one to his ankle, with knives in the back of his belt ready to throw.

He saw that he was not going to need a weapon here. Red was dead already which he confirmed when he leaned down to examine his immense dead body. Who did this? I should have been here first! The man made a call on his mobile phone. "One target is present and eliminated," he said. "Only one target is identified, other targets not present at this location."

¤

Lamai ran through the high forest terrain with the speed of a jungle cat. She sensed the antelope she was pursuing had frozen in its tracks and was also intoxicated and unable to flee. Branches ripped at her clothes and any flesh that was exposed on her was starting to tear off with every scratch. Every forest creature that sensed her presence moved in the opposite direction as fast as it could.

She moved in a straight line, as the crow flies, but confined to the terrestrial substrate. She ran up and down the other side of mountains without tiring. She splashed through streams, swam across deep water and scrambled over boulders. When she came to a barbed wire fence, she ripped the wire off of the posts as she tore through it, but left her army jacket attached to the wire. Now, the half- naked, rotting carrion formerly called Lamai, was getting close to her instructed destination. She could smell Jay now.

¤

As the sky was just beginning to show the signs of morning, a circle of people gathered outside around a small fire. Jay stood nervously watching the people form a circle. He was staying in a temporary, ready-to-run-at-any-second, Karyn village. Some of the ladies wore the gold neck bands that stretched and elongated their neck vertebrae. Jay was again intrigued, and mysteriously turned on, by their unique shape. They wore colorful clothing that was hand made by the natural hill tribe folk. The ladies were singing softly and the men were dancing around the fire in a widdershins direction. Gwaang stood off to the side next to Aon and her children.

A man and a woman walked up to Jay and looked into his eyes. Jay nodded and held out his left arm. The woman rolled up his sleeve and the man took a razor sharp knife and rested it on his wrist. He muttered a few prayers and then made a quick surgical incision, opening one of Jay's veins.

The woman held out a wooden bowl and collected the blood as it dripped from Jay's wrist. Jay winced a little, but did not experience any real pain, as the knife was so very sharp. When the wooden bowl was near full, the woman took it away and put a lid on it. The man took a stick from the fire with a glowing ember on it and used it to seal and cauterize the opening in Jay's wrist. That hurt Jay immensely, but he didn't make a sound, he only gritted his teeth and scrunched up his face, never closing his eyes so he could watch what was happening.

During the night leading into this dawn, Gwaang explained to Jay that some of the children and older people in the village were very sick. The American military had sprayed the poppy fields with a defoliant, much stronger than what people use on their finely manicured Connecticut lawns. Some of the poppies were milked before they died, and this resin was smoked by the hill tribe. The adults suffered diarrhea and headaches, but the old and young had these symptoms, plus severe dehydration, nausea and cramps.

They were likely to die, and none of the traditional or pharmaceutical medicines were working. They could not travel to a doctor, or everyone in this operation would be exposed, so their only help was to smoke clean opium to lessen the pain. Then, a godsend, Jay came right into this village, with a body full of blood that could give these people a chance.

Since Jay was going to get rid of this blood soon, he hoped, he didn't mind giving some of it up now. In order to use this blood without risking a transformation, it was to be mixed with the blood of the strongest members of the tribe. After Jay was cut and bled, they all stood by the fire in turn and the same process was repeated, until five urns of blood were filled. The blood from Jay and from the tribes people would be mixed, blessed, prayed over and administered to all the sick people this morning.

None of the hill tribe people here had Pee Doot Lewat blood in them. These Karyn people called themselves Christians, but it was not like any Christian religion practiced in the West. Rather, it was more of a term they used to identify themselves as 'not Buddhist'.

Ironically, the Burmese army that was inhumanely destroying the Karyn people called themselves the 'Democratic Karyn Buddhist Army' or DKBA. They were neither a democracy nor Buddhist, as one of the Buddhist precepts is to 'not kill.' Not only did this army kill their own tribes people, but they did it using torture, rape, disfiguring landmines, psychological terror and genocidal termination. The Karyn part of this acronym was true, some of them were Karyn people, but they were coerced by the Burmese military to turn on their own people or be killed, and they were given large amounts of methamphetamine to keep them crazy enough to commit these atrocities.

This particular hill tribe of people that Gwaang worked with were just peaceful farmers, trying to live on a mountain without getting killed. Gwaang transported some of their harvest across the border and brought them back medicine and staples to help them exist. Soonan was his contact who moved the herbal medicine to the next person in line. She didn't know what happened to it after that, she just accepted that this was all a step to help the people that Gwaang knew since he was a boy, and she would help her husband if he needed it.

Since none of these people were Pee Doot Lewat, they didn't have a source of regenerative blood to use as a last resort. But with Jay's arrival, the last resort was available. As Jay stood in awe of this unique newly created ceremony, holding a bandage on his wrist, a screaming sound broke the early morning peacefulness of this unusual event. A figure that looked like Lamai blasted with a shotgun, came running into the gathering of people, naked from the waist up, and hideously missing chunks of skin and tissue.

Jay couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was Lamai, but different. She didn't look human anymore. She was gruesome and fierce. She came running towards the circle heading straight for Jay, her eyes locked on his. She no longer was appealing or sexy and alluring. She was now the image of fear and regret. Her eyes held no beauty, only rage and lifeless hatred. Jay had no idea how she came to be here, but he knew that she must be coming for him. He braced himself for her impact. The first person that was between her and Jay got knocked flying through the air with one powerful swing of her arm, and in the next second, something happened that Jay never expected.

¤

Sekott sat in a dark corner of a bar in Mae Hong Son, his arms wrapped around himself, his legs bouncing up and down, his gaze fixed on some random point in the distance, but seeing nothing. His thoughts were a turmoil of regret, resolve, hatred and fear. An untouched cup of tea sat in front of him, and a plate of rice, eggs and chilies, also untouched. He occasionally let go of himself to bite his nails and scratch his neck, which was red with marks from his fingers digging into repeatedly. He had to make one last attempt to accomplish something, or plan B was going to happen, which involved a rope and a bridge. What to do? What to do? What to do?

¤

More figures, dressed and masked in black, moved around in Red's house. They dragged his body out of the house and loaded it into a van. Others, were busy making all of the blood in the house disappear, and making it look like nothing ever happened. The entire house was also being searched, every item, every bag, every corner was studied for clues. The men moved quickly and with great efficiency, and then they were gone.

¤

Before Lamai reached Jay, seven of the long neck Karyn ladies circled her, singing the song that Jay remembered hearing from Tone. Lamai froze in her tracks, unable to move an animated muscle. She fell to the ground convulsing. Jay had a close look at her now. Her flesh was riddled with tiny holes over every square centimeter of her body. There were larger holes randomly located where he could see torn muscle fibers hanging out. There was a smell spreading that was reminiscent of a dead dog on the side of a hot road for several days. Jay was in horror to see her. What was she?

The Hia was aware of what was happening and was unable to do anything about it. Lamai was no longer alive, but her cells still were the shape of the cells of a Pee Doot Lewat, so the spell of the chant in the song still had effect and power over her. They were singing the song of protection on all sides of her, so there was nowhere for her to flee. The Karyn long-necks had used this song before, and they were well versed in it. They had protection, not only from soldiers, smugglers and mafia, but also from the other beings of nature that would seek to exploit them. They sang loudly around Lamai's twitching body and held her in a resonant prison.

The Hia made a last minute bargain with the spirits that were aiding him in this mission. He was not ready to give up on this, it was too close to completion, and his failure could be the end of him and his kind. He offered another hundred years service for one last supernatural intervention, and the spirits accepted, knowing they had the better end of this deal. They put energy into Lamai's cellular skeleton and electrified her with the power of all of the energy in the soil and roots. A black scar formed on the earth below her as all of the energy in the ground was drained and sent into her, giving her an immense burst of power. The Hia sent her directly at the bald farang.

She jumped three meters high, straight up into the air and landed outside of the singing circle near Jay. Her arms reached out in the direction of his neck and she dove at him with all of her new power. Jay saw this happen all in slow motion. What do I do now? This thing that I used to sleep with is heading towards me faster than I can imagine, and she seems like intent on killing me. I guess this is it. It was a good run. Nothing left to do but sing...

Jay was able to start humming the song that the Karyn ladies were still chanting. The melody came clear from memories of Tone making these sounds and it was easily formed in Jay's mind with the group already pronouncing this ancient magic. After the first wavering sound came from Jay's fearful vocal chords, the melody began to come strongly from him as well.

Lamai was repelled again by this musical sound and her body was not permitted to approach this person. The singing didn't have the power to stop a flying body's trajectory though and the thing that was hurling at him was going to hit him full on. He didn't have time to run so he braced himself for impact, never stopping his tune.

The Lamai creature was fully naked now because the magic that just entered her burned off all of her remaining clothes. She slammed into Jay's body with a great deal of speed and knocked him flying a few meters, burning his skin and clothes where ever she touched him. Jay winced in pain and howled out, thinking he was going to die this moment.

What happened next amazed him to feel her body move away from his and he could see that the Lamai thing got up from the ground and took off running back into the jungle at an amazing speed, leaving a smoking black scar in every one of her footprints. She disappeared into the forest with the singing ladies running towards her. Jay's bewildered senses took a while to return to him. Everyone was startled and shocked as well as they all starred at Jay.

Jay looked at his wounds and saw that he had suffered some burns, but not too badly. Because of the song he was singing, the thing couldn't try to injure him with her powerful strength. Since her body could not attack him, after it collided with Jay, it had to move away from him and the quickly approaching, singing Karyn ladies.

The Hia reacting to everything he was seeing through Lamai's eyes was infuriated. He wanted this farang man dead now. He sent Lamai running away from the group hoping that he could send her back after him another way.

"Jay!" Gwaang looked at him in urgency, "What the fuck was that?"

Jay had no explanation. He hadn't seen Lamai since the night Money was shot, and something very dark and horrible had happened to her. He wasn't sure it was her, it was something that looked like her. It was her, but it wasn't her. "I don't know," answered Jay, "I think it was my PDL ex-girlfriend!"

"Well whatever the fuck it was, it was a blood drinker." Gwaang said, "Otherwise, the song would not have worked to contain it. But I have never seen any blood drinker like that! It looked and smelled dead. And what can jump into the air on fire and disappear like a gust of wind?"

"If it is what, or who, I think it is," said Jay, "Then I know that she is after me. I should go now! I can not bring any more trouble to your village. If the ceremony is finished, please, get me away from here!"

"That is exactly what I was thinking." Gwaang said, knowing for certain that he did not want his people to have to deal with a dark creature such as this one. Gwaang called out some words in Karyn and bodies moved into action. Jay was given a colorful shoulder bag with his physical elements of power inside, along with some sticky rice and dried fish. He was thanked, and was hurried away.

A KLNA soldier rolled up on a motorbike, similar to the one Gwaang drove, and was ready to transport Jay to the border. Gwaang hugged Jay and wished him luck, and told him to forget everything he saw here. Jay understood and told him he would die before giving up any information about their operation. He wished him good luck with the cure for the poisoned people in the village, and told him that this was the last time he would be able to offer PDL blood to him. This cure was going to happen, or, something else was going to happen, but Jay wasn't going to let his mind go there, to the dark side that wanted to suck him down into the earth.

Jay got on the bike and it sped off, as he looked back and saw the Karyn long neck ladies cleaning up the black scar on the ground with long stiff bristled brooms, and disappearing all of the creature's black foot prints. They weren't going to have any memory of that foul thing around, but there would be a memory of this day.

This eventful morning would come to be known to the village as 'saviors day'. The day a farang willingly gave his blood to help the dying people and the day the brave women warded off the aggression of something supernatural they never saw before. The creature that invaded their village would be in stories told by parents to scare children into behaving properly, and would be muttered between children to scare each other in ghost stories. She later was referred to as the 'Pee Men Noi', or the stinking little ghost.

The rider stopped the bike in a misty valley where everything was still wet from the morning dew. He covered the bike with some long grass and then he and Jay traveled on foot down a barely visible path.

"Stay directly behind me and don't step off this path." he said, "There are land mines everywhere around here, some of them ours, some of them theirs. If you follow me exactly, you will be OK. You don't want to be carelessly blown up now after every thing that has happened to you. And you don't want to look like me!"

He stopped and turned around so that Jay could see the mangled white cloudy eyeball in his left eye socket. "I was the lucky one," he told Jay, "Two of my friends lost their lives in a slow painful death from gangrene on their shattered legs." They kept walking, and Jay followed every step of the man in front of him.

After walking for a couple of hours, they came to a clearing and Jay could see a fence about a half a kilometer away. "Now, I go back," the one eyed man named Neungdtaa said, "If you stay on this path, and crawl like a snake through the grass, you should be fine. Stay low to the ground and stay on the path. Good Luck, Chok Dee!" And with those words, he disappeared like a phantom into the greenery.

Jay made slow progress towards the fence doing exactly as Neungdtaa said. He did not want to be the victim of a landmine. He carefully crawled through the barbed wire, and was again in the nation of Thailand, geographically speaking. Now, he had a long walk to Sop Pong to find Sabine. He followed his compass and the map that Gwaang scratched onto some paper for him.

Jay walked through grassland and brush until he came to a dirt trail with two paths following parallel directions. He followed this road south until a farmer came by on a rice cart pulled by a motor mounted to a long wooden frame with wheels. The farmer gave him a toothless smile and gave the slightest shrug of his head to offer him a ride on the rice cart. Jay gladly hopped on and took the generous offer. Jay found himself resting for a change, looking up at the clouds, reviewing this insane morning. He touched the bandage on his wrist and the burns on his arms and face, remembering the pain he was feeling and remembering the foreboding image of the Lamai thing.

¤

The Lamai thing was laying on her back in a heavily treed part of the jungle. Her body was smoldering slightly, and her skin was now a charred black color. The power that surged through her, along with the spell working against her, greatly damaged what was left of her. At the moment she couldn't move. There was no energy moving her. She was like an insect that had been partially crushed and was waiting to expire.

No thoughts were in her empty head. The Hia tried to will her to move, but it wasn't working. He had bargained away two hundred years of service for nothing. She just lie there, useless to him. He would have to serve the two hundred years, incarnate or not, and he had no idea how long a discarnate year might be. He took out his frustration by beating Ice with a rope and calling him a useless pile of buffalo dung.

¤

Sekott had one final card left to play. His insane mind had calmed enough after the last feeding to have the ability to reason for a while. From a bar in the town he was in, away from the massacre he created in the last town, he called Jay on his mobile.

Jay's phone began to buzz. He was amazed that he had reception, here, so far up in the mountains. As the phone buzzed, he looked at the farmer in astonishment. The farmer smiled back at him with that toothless grin and pulled a new IT phone out of his pocket to show Jay and show off a little. If Thailand lacked anything, it wasn't mobile phones, Jay thought.

Jay pressed accept and said in a Thai accent, "Haallooow."

"Jay," a voice said, "This is S-Sekott. I have Red t-tied up and I am going to kill him with a knife if you don't tell me where you are. I am holding the necklace that was once around your neck and was also around Red's. T-Tell me where you are now, or Red's dead! Where are you?" Jay was in shock again. How could Sekott be at Red's? How did he even know who Red was? What can I do to help Red now? When is life going to stop throwing shit at me? He couldn't let anything happen to Red. He was too wonderful of a soul.

"OK," Jay said, resolving to be done with everything at all at once, his condition and this Sekott fellow. He would offer Sekott the cure. Maybe it wasn't too late for him. "Sekott, you can find me at the Hole in the Wall in Sop Pong in Northern Mae hong Son Province. Meet me there and I will give you the cure. Here is how you get there...."

"D-Do you have the cure?" Sekott asked, with a sudden flicker of hope. "I will have it when I see you," Jay lied, hoping it would be true. "Just don't hurt Red. He is a very good person. I am begging you!" Jay then read the directions from his note and relayed them to Sekott.

"You have my word." Sekott lied and ended the call. The flicker of hope died in him as he began to fade back into delusion again. Jay has caused all of this to happen. Everything bad that has happened to me is his fault. Now, he is going to pay with his life!

CHAPTER 31 SABINE

With a ride from a friendly farmer on a rice wagon, another generous ride from a drunk guy on a motorbike, and a couple of kilometers of walking, Jay found himself at a lovely rustic home stay called the Hole in the wall.

It was a collection of cabins and dorms that were scattered throughout the jungle on a steep hillside with hand formed concrete stairs connecting all of the pathways. There was a large central rustic wooden building which served as a common area for eating, hanging out, having campfire circles and also functioned as an internet lounge.

There were beautiful views from the deck and there were places to sit at large wooden tables and chairs and swings. One special feature was the large Hole in the Wall that opened up into a medium sized cavern, which was a VIP accommodation for guests who wanted to stay in a cave.

At the base of the slope, this resort was on was a small river that flowed through caves and beautiful jungle with rapids and calm, slow-moving, lazy, flat water areas. Jay thought this would be a beautiful spot for a vacation, if he weren't running from demons and trying to save his life and his soul.

"Hello, where are you coming from?" A voice with a smile from a vision of loveliness called out. As Jay was looking at the beautifully landscaped grounds, a beautiful Shawn woman walked up to him speaking perfect English. "Are you looking for a room?"

"Wow!" Jay said with his jaw dropped, "Gwaang was right, you are such an attractive lady!"

"Gwaang?" she asked, "How do you know Gwaang?"

"Hello, you must be Sabine," Jay replied, "My name is Jay, do you think we could sit somewhere private and talk?"

"OK?" she said suspiciously eying this farang as she led him to a table under a huge tree where they sat down. She knew things were about to happen, she just didn't know what exactly, but she knew this foreigner was part of it, unless he was a spy.

"Yes, I am Sabine." she said staring at Jay, "How do you know my name? And how do you know Gwaang? Where are you coming from? Are you a member of any police force or from any country or military organization?"

"Whoa!" Jay said, "No! I am just Jay, an American school teacher looking for some help that maybe you can give."

"OK." She said, "Just checking. Go on."

"Well," Jay began, "This is a long crazy story that brings me here, so I will start with my meeting Ajarn Santee."

Sabine's eyes widened as she knew this person was not here randomly. She wondered how much he knew about her and Ajarn Santee. She felt more trusting about his arrival, and considered him to be who he said he was.

Jay told her all about Lamai, him being drained, Ajarn Santee helping him, Money getting shot, fleeing to Ubon, surviving life threatening attacks, his hunger, his disease, Mr. Sekott, Tone leaving for America, Mae Sot, Red, Gwaang, the four elements, the blood giving ceremony and Lamai's attack before he got here.

"....and so, here I am," Jay finished, "Seeking you, the Shawn beholder of the element of water."

"That's quite a story, Jay," she said, "How do I know you are for real?" Jay took out the packages from Gwaang and Red to show her, explaining he needed the element of water from her and the elusive element of earth.

"OK," she agreed to help him, "I believe you are who you say you are, and I can see in your eyes that you are stricken with the madness that comes from the changes occurring within you. I can help you with the element of water that you need, and I think you already must know about the element of earth. Didn't Ajarn Santee connect you with it already?"

Jay should have this already! If he was with Ajarn Santee, then why does he not have the monk's element of earth? She knew what the element of earth was, but every one from her circle knew that only Ajarn Santee could speak of it. Everyone was sworn to be silent about it because, they wouldn't want, that, happening again. She withheld what she knew about it and didn't give Jay any new information. If he knew what the element of earth was, he was unmistakably for real.

Sabine led Jay to a small sauna hut that was built into the hillside. "This is one of our relaxation opportunities, and on more spiritual occasions, like on the full moons, we use this facility for cleansing rituals." She explained.

Jay was familiar with the sweat lodge ceremony of the First Nation people. He had participated in it many times before and recalled the smells of sage, sweet grass and mint on the hot rocks.

"And this tank here holds the blessed water that is infused with lemongrass and blood vine." She showed Jay the fifty-five gallon drum that had a fire pit under it and a steam pipe leading into the sauna room. He wondered what blood vine was and if he had any reason to fear it.

She led Jay a up a trail of wooden and cement steps, to a garden that had trails, benches and flowers of many varieties. "This is our meditation garden," she explained, "And here is where we harvest the blood vine and the dakai, or lemon grass. We use it to enhance our herbal steam baths. This is blood vine that contains the red juice that represents the element of water. This vine grows in the soil that was fertilized with some of the ashes of Luangpu Pupan. This plant that I have cut from is the bearer of the fluid that you seek."

She took a machete and hacked a vine open. Immediately, red juices started to drip from it. She collected the juices in a bowl and then delicately grafted the vine back together and wrapped a cloth around it. She tied it with some twine, making a clean attachment that would heal and grow back together. She waied to the plant and thanked it. She was so incredibly lovely that Jay had to turn away. Looking at her was causing him difficulty breathing normally. She had the kind of beauty that transcended human form. Jay now understood how a monk could break a vow of chastity with her. He imagined that she could make a monk question if being a monk was the best idea. She knew that this man was staring at her with desire, but she was used to that. She felt that she could trust him, so she welcomed him and presented him with what he was seeking. Partially.

"Please," she said, "Come join me and share some food." She took the bowl of fresh blood vine fluids and led Jay up a set of steps inlaid with mosaic shells, that led up to the main, central building. Jay took off his sandals, crawled up onto one of the large sitting tables covered with large colorful cushions, and sat down lotus style. Sabine went into the kitchen and began placing some things on a tray.

Jay looked around at the surrounding jungle mountains, the beautiful river below, all of the smiling people in the photographs on the wall and the fantastic collection of art and furnishings with knick knacks hanging every where in between potted, hanging orchids. He admired the atmosphere of this place and made a resolution to come here on a vacation someday, without any monsters or murderers.

Sabine came back and sat down with Jay on the table, and placed a large tray between them that contained glasses of ice water, green tea with fresh flowers and mint, homemade brown bread, local honey, New Zealand butter, mango preserves, fresh fruit and the blood vine juice. Sabine told Jay to dig in, and as he began to pick at the spread and eat slowly and concisely.

Sabine prayed over the blood vine juice and then poured it into a vial. She handed Jay the vile and said, "This contains the sacred element of water, with the aromatic expressions of the earth, and the ancient magical wisdom of a being who was beyond human. Luangpu Pupan was an enlightened being. He only visited us on this plane to show us what was possible and help us grow the world into a more enlightened reality. This is for you." She handed it to him reverently.

"Thank you Sabine!" Jay said receiving the third element of the four he needed. "This means everything to me! You are very kind to help me so trustingly, as were Red and Gwaang. I am trying to think of everything Ajarn Santee told me, but I can't remember him giving me any solid information about the element of earth."

"Ajarn Santee was not always forthcoming," Sabine added, "He may have given you something of a clue, a link, a contact, or maybe he tried to help you recognize it by yourself."

Jay wracked his brain but could not come up with anything clear. He thought of how the monk had always suggested Jay converse with his master, Luangpu Pupan, who had an all knowing wisdom. Ajarn Santee continually told Jay to trust the visions that the holy magical monk gave him. Jay thought back to his meditations, the temple that he stayed at, the temple in Ubon, the waterfall he was led to and the memories he experienced there. Still, he couldn't hold onto anything solid. He needed to get the fourth element and complete the cure. He was so close, but so not there yet.

Jay told Sabine that he didn't know what the element was. There was no phone reception at the lodge, so Jay couldn't call Ajarn Santee to ask him, not expecting it to be that simple anyhow. He was starting to feel a little bit worried that he was at an apparent dead end.

Sabine resolved that Jay had this information already, and that it was essential that he come up with the answer himself. She knew it was not acceptable to tell him, no matter how much he might plead with her. She would not let Jay know that she even knew what or where it was. The answer also revealed something about her and her connection to Santee that was not something she liked to share with people.

Jay, befuddled, told Sabine about Mr. Sekott's threat to kill Red. She stopped what she was doing and stared at Jay with a look of extreme concern.

"What?" she said, "Red is in danger?" She had no idea that this was part of the solution. This complicated things in an oath breaking way.

"I don't really know exactly how much danger he is in," Jay explained, "Mr. Sekott was becoming insane from the blood transformation happening to him. He had been introduced, infected rather, months before me, so I am not at the same level he is. I have occasional hunger attacks, but I have the whiskey Red gave me, roots from Ubon and the powders and advice of Ajarn Santee. And I still have my wits, so I can reason things out and make sensible decisions. But Sekott, he is losing his mind, and I am afraid of what he might do, so I told him to come here."

"What?" you asked an insane crazy person to come to my resort?" Sabine looked confused. She was not able to foresee this.

"I'm sorry, I had to!" Jay apologized, "I did it to keep Sekott from hurting Red, and maybe, he's not too far gone. Maybe, with the completed cure, we can help him too!"

"Of course I want Red to be safe too, but what are you telling me about this crazed person on his way here?" she asked. "What is he capable of doing?" Red is a big, big man! What person would be able to challenge him this way? A crazy man with a gun perhaps.

"I told him that I had the cure." Jay said, "I guess I would have said anything to keep Red out of harm's way. And I thought that if I had the cure, and could give it to him, Sekott would come around, become sane again, and not want to hurt anyone. I was certain that I would have the cure when I found you. I don't know exactly what Sekott is capable of, but I have seen him on the edge of madness, as well as express a brilliant mind."

Jay thought of Sekott's delusions and wondered what he was really capable of. Is he still searching for a cure? Is he already past help? Is he a full blown Pee Doot Lewat already? When he shows up, what should I do? I will do anything to protect all of the people involved with helping me. Would Sekott be better off dead?

"Sabine," Jay asked, "How do you kill a person who lives with this hunger in their blood?"

Sabine looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled. She was not going to worry about this Mr. Sekott. She had faith in the universe and knew that all things worked harmoniously, and mysteriously. She laughed and gave Jay a nugget of information.

"The Pee Doot Lewat, and those in transition, are not like the stories that are told on television and in books. These people can see their reflections in mirrors. They do have shadows. They are not adversely affected by sunshine, silver, garlic nor holy symbols like the cross. They do not need invitations to enter your house. They can not fly nor turn into a bat. They do not have retractable fangs. And if you want to kill them, shooting them with a silver bullet or stabbing them with a wooden stake or even burning them will not necessarily kill them, if they are given a chance to regenerate. They can regenerate even if they only have ten percent of their body's blood left in them. However, one myth about this type of fictional monster is true about the real people who drink blood. If you cut off their head, they are dead. Just like any human, if you disconnect the brain from the body, that's it for them."

¤

What was left of Lamai's leech-eaten, jungle-torn, seared body lie on the jungle floor, motionless. Insects walked around it, not at all interested on feeding from it. The Hia looked infuriated as he tried to make something, anything happen with her. The Hia tried everything he could do with spells and magic, which had no effect. The spirits would not talk to him anymore about this, they did all they were willing to do already. The Hia beat on Ice some more with a cane as the poor hulk cowered in a corner, receiving blow after blow from a bamboo staff and the Hia's fist.

"You worthless sack of skin," The Hia screamed at him, "Why can't you do anything to help? Why did you let stupid girls push a motorbike into my pond? Why can't you ever do anything but mumble? Why do I bother with you at all? You will never be anything! Nothing at all useful! You could never be part of this world without me. Without my help you are nothing! You could never come close to being a Hia like me, even if I told you all my secrets. You stupid buffalo! That's what you are, a stupid, stupid buffalo!"

The Hia was punishing Ice for the zombie's failure, and for his own failure, which he didn't want to admit or face. Ice took the lashings in fear, and tried to cover his face. The Hia was whacking him with a bamboo cane, with all of the ferocity within him. One blow hit Ice on the side that caused an instinctive reaction in him to raise his arm in a blocking motion. As Ice tried to block the next blow, his strong arm hit the cane, and the Hia that was hanging onto the other end of this cane, was knocked off balance and fell backwards. When the Hia landed, his head hit the corner of his stone altar, and split his head open. He lay there on the floor bleeding, and not moving anymore.

Ice uncurled from his defensive fetal position and looked at the Hia. "Oh No!" he cried in regret, "I sorry Hia. Ice sorry! Sorry!" Ice went over to the Hia's body and tried to shake him awake. He was not opening his eyes. Ice thought the Hia was dead. Ice kept calling out, "Sorry, Hia. Ice Sorry!"

At the moment of Hia's head trauma, he was knocked unconscious. This did not kill him, however, it placed him in a astral position where he had no control over his body. The Hia was still present and conscious on spiritual and astral planes. Here, he was confronted by the spirits that had aided him.

"You have failed!" A snake like voice hissed from a dark creature named Veles. "We gave you the power to use, but it was for nothing! Now you will make payment on your bargain!"

Snake-like shadow figures coiled around the Hia. He had no power in the presence of these higher daemons. He was at the end of his role as witch-doctor. The snake shadows coiled around the Hia and squeezed the essence of all that he was, right out of his astral body. Two distinct energies arose. One was the spirit-essence of the man, the other was the supernatural-essence that made him the Hia. These two essences hovered, under the command of Veles, who had been the overseer of this Hia's worldly manifestation.

"You will serve us sssstill!" Veles commanded, and his minions, the shadow snakes of Apep, escorted the souls of the former Hia to their new residence. The Hia's supernatural souls were escorted away by the snake minions to be redistributed. The Hia's mortal soul was returned to his body. With a painful merging of worlds, the more human part of the Hia was back in his shell of an old man.

Ice saw the Hia open his eyes as he shook him and repeated his apology again and again.

"Sorry Hia! Ice sorry! So sorry! Hia! Hia!" he called.

At the same time the Hia opened his eyes, some of the supernatural-souls of the Hia was driven into the body of Ice by the snake shadow-minions. Ice's head rolled back as the possession occurred. The souls of the Hia were ancient and up to thousands of years old. Now they were cursed to always inhabit a deformed earthly form. From now on, they would reside in the disabled, slow, abused being, known as Ice.

Ice now stared into the previous Hia's eyes, with a recognition of every past incarnation that the Hia had ever been, and every bit of memory and wisdom of all of the mortal forms that it had ever lived within. Ice was no longer an idiot, fat boy with a tiny intelligence. The Hia formerly known as Ice was now an ancient soul capable of great magic. He had also the innocence of the boy Ice, continually abused by his master. He would be a more reasonable Hia. Ice spoke to his former boss.

"You will beat me no more, you foolish old man. Now, I am Hia, and you have sworn to serve the spirits for the next two hundred years. The spirits intend that you begin that by serving me"

CHAPTER 32 SHOWDOWN

Ice was aware of the failure of his previous master but he had the memories of everything that the Hia had been trying to do. Ice realized that there was an importance in this task, that his kind, the Pee Doot Lewat, did not need a pious, prejudice farang trying wiping out their entire race. The Ice Hia had the power to still look through Lamai's eyes. All he could see was a canopy of leaves above her with the sun trying to break through and hit the ground. He could not feel anything from Lamai, he could only see through her eyes.

Ice made the first request of the deities in his new role as witch doctor. He called on the goddess, Pajau Yan, the Lady Moon, who compassionately feeds the fragrant flowers of transition to the dead, to give this soulless body one last reprieve from the process of death on the wheel of life and rebirth.

He pleaded with Pajau Yan to reunite Lamai's soul and body, for one day, and then, the natural process would resume. He offered another two hundred years of service from his helper, the ex Hia, in return for this divine favor. Pajau Yan, who embodied compassion and healing, was fully capable of granting this wish, but she demanded that Ice, as new Hia, vow to commit at least one compassionate act to the people of his village, everyday. Ice, who was already a loving and caring person, gladly accepted this agreement.

Somewhere in the darkness of the void, the sleepless, dreamless, wake-less soul of Lamai felt a spirit touch her spirit. She was amazed that she felt anything at all. There was a white being beside her, emanating a light that made her feel extremely small in its presence. She was being led from this endless, hopeless, motionless darkness. She felt an emotion she was not used to being the recipient of.

This being of amber light was smiling compassionately at her, giving her soul pure love, without asking anything. She was led to a place of color and sound and smells. Her senses were returning. She saw the figure of a slender small woman and she was guided to join hands with this image. She was now holding hands with, and looking at, herself. At that moment, Lamai became alive again, reunited with her soul's essence and her body's earthly form.

Her body was no longer seared, bitten and beaten. She was her old self, before her sisters had her poisoned. She stood up, admiring and taking joy in the feel of her skin again. An angelic like voice spoke to her. "Go to the ones you know as Jay and Sekott. A Hia will guide you and help you along the way. He will see what you see and feel what you feel, and all things must be done with love and compassion, or this reconnection will be lost. You must lovingly convince the human men that it is wrong to harm or destroy any life, regardless of its difference. You have one day as the earth turns, so make haste. I grant you the gift of speed to take you there. Accomplish this one last task, and I will give you rest. Redeem yourself and you will know peace! You are a child of the universe, you do deserve to be here. Forget what you have done in the past and move forward with love for all things!"

With the joy of not feeling pure, dark loneliness anymore, and the pleasure of being in a youthful unbroken body, Lamai's newly revitalized naked body, ran at unearthly speed in the direction of Jay and Sekott, who seemed to be at the same location, not far from where she was awakened. She felt real love, something that had been buried deep inside her so long ago. It felt really good.

¤

Sabine had given Jay a vial of red fluid, containing the blessed blood vine juice. Jay took it and held it in between his praying hands and waied her and thanked her. He placed it in his bag with the other two items that he had collected, and went back to searching his memories for anything about Ajarn Santee's element of earth. He was so close, this was going to be over soon, he was sure. But how will I deal with the Sekott perversion, and is there still a Lamai thing out there?

"Sabine," Jay spoke, feeling remorseful that he had not yet mentioned this probably vital piece of information, "I saw something this morning that I have never seen anything like before, and I have seen a lot of crazy things lately. The girl, Lamai, who I was once very involved with in the past, appeared in the jungle this morning, or something like her appeared. She was rotting and bleeding and oozing and smelled of death. Maybe she was dead, I don't know, but she was coming for me.

The Karyn ladies stopped her with an amazing song. It was a song I know offers protection from the Pee Doot Lewat. This song kept my ex-girlfriend monster from being able to move. She was like a captive, and then, she seemingly became injected with searing, hot, electrical power that enabled her to jump higher than any being can, and run faster than any human. She escaped the circle of chanting, long-neck women and ran at me next. I was also able to stop her with the song as well. And then she ran with amazing speed, on fire, into the jungle. If, she shows up here, do you have any experience with dealing with a creature like this? She was Pee Doot Lewat, but this day, I believe she is also something else."

"Jay," she said with a look of disbelief on her brow, "I don't know what you are talking about. I have surely never seen anything like this. Are you OK? Is the transition starting to make you mad? And can I ask, what caused all of those wounds that I see on your arms?" Sabine was worried by what Jay was saying. She had no recognition of this, no fore warning, and perhaps he was going mad already!

"I think I'm OK," Jay said, not really being sure, "I saw this happen, and so did Gwaang, and everybody else there. I don't know what it was, but it was coming for me and I had a feeling of horror from whatever it was! When she, or should I say it, when it touched me, it caused burns every where its skin contacted mine."

"You really know how to pick them, Jay," Sabine said, "And perhaps you are not the best person to be here any more. I feel for you, and I want to help you, but, if you have crazy men and supernatural, demon, ex-girlfriends chasing you, I really don't want them here. I prefer my guest to be more Buddha-like. Am I being reasonable? There has to be somewhere I can hide you for now, until ....."

At that moment, A beautiful, naked, dark-skinned, long curly-haired woman came walking out of the forest towards Jay and Sabine. It was Lamai, but she was not scarred, bleeding nor torn up. Her skin was perfect and radiant. She almost looked like she was glowing. Jay walked down the steps of the lodge to greet Lamai and, he had a few questions for her, like, "What the fuck is going on Lamai?"

Sabine followed Jay down the steps as well, grabbing a knife and concealing it behind her back, just in case something was about to go down, she wanted to have some kind of protection, but this angelic looking naked girl did not appear to be much of a threat. Jay had just finished telling her about a zombie-like version of hill ex-girlfriend coming to kill him, and now a very naked and a very human looking being was here and Jay was walking right up to her. Perhaps he is mad already. His story is outrageous and inconsistent with what I am seeing now.

Lamai walked over to Jay and threw her arms around him, giving him a big, loving hug. "Jay," she said, "I am so sorry for everything that happened. I know I did some really bad things and I know you can't forgive me, but, please, listen to what I have to say, just for a moment. I don't have much time!"

"You tried to kill me!" Jay stepped back, away from her arms and her charms, "You killed my friend! You tried to kill me several times again! You turned into some kind of monster, freak-thing, and now, what the fuck are you doing here? Why are you following me? What do you want?"

"I was wrong, in everything I did. I know!" Lamai pleaded, "But I have been given one last chance to do something right. I have only come to beg of you, please don't try to hurt other life-drinking people because of what I did. Most of my kind are not like me. I am, was, crazy. The people of my line are just regular people, who go to work, and school and temple. They don't hurt anyone and they are just a little different. I was a selfish, driven, bitch. But don't punish my kind because of me. Don't persecute the life-drinkers with your dislike for me. I am begging you to not release the poison, or the cure, or whatever it is you have, on my people. I am begging you, please let them live in peace. They are not a threat. I am only here to ask this of you and of Sekott. I have to find him too, but you were the closest. I don't know how I got here or what happened since I saw you last. Really! Just listen to my plea. I don't want anything else from you."

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Jay yelled at her, "I'm sure you are just setting me up for something right now. Why the fuck are you following me?" Jay had once loved her, but now, he had no trust for her. And after what he had already seen this day, he wasn't sure if he could trust his own eyes. I am surely going insane!

"I once thought I was going to kill you," She said, "but that was me before, well, before I died, I have one day to come back here to plead with you to be compassionate, and don't hurt the Pee Doot Lewat!" She said this with a great longing in her eyes.

She seems genuine and real about what she is talking about. "I am not trying to hurt anyone. I never was." Jay said. Could she be for real? Why does she think I want to hurt her people? Is she really just after Sekott? Where is Sekott now? Why is she looking like an angel to me now?

Lamai did not seem threatening at all in this convention, but Sabine clutched a knife handle tightly, ready to defend against this little thing, that looked like she couldn't do much damage anyhow. Was this the girl that Jay said went flying through the air on fire? What is she? She doesn't feel like a human presence, but yet, she does.

¤

Ice, the Hia, saw all of this happening through Lamai's eyes and he thought that this was good. Lamai was appealing to Jay's compassion, and he seemed to be a man who embodied this trait. She was doing this without the hateful fear that the old Hia injected into her. This could be done with Love. The hate did not work. It had to be this way.

The old Hia, was completely astonished about what just happened. How can this be? My powers are gone, and Ice is Hia? This can not be! I am the one to use the magic! I am the Hia! The old man, not wanting to be controlled by his own idiot slave, took a chance when Ice Hia turned his back.

The old man grabbed a heavy statue of the deity, Ganesha, from the altar, and with all of the strength is his feeble body, he hit Ice in the back of the head. Blood trickled down Ice Hia's neck and his body slumped forward. He lost all connection with Lamai, as he struggled to keep his awareness. The old man landed one more blow on Ice's head, rendering him unconscious. The presence of Lamai had no one to direct it now. She was on her own with no one to guide her.

As Jay was staring at this naked, little, lovely thing, pleading with him in a loving way, he tried to remain objective, and not let memories or emotions enter this equation. He knew he was a sucker for Lamai. She has to be lying. This has to be a trick? What dark forces are working here? Or am I just losing it? As he tried to be sensible, and not believe a word, this, whatever she was, was saying, Jay noticed her face start to change. She seemed to be shape-shifting and her image was no longer lovely and radiant. Her skin began to grow dark and she appeared to be quickly transforming and losing all of her beauty and appeal. Her face started to emanate offensiveness.

Jay's attention to Lamai stopped when a voice came from the trail leading to the Hole in the Wall lodge. "Jay," Sekott demanded, wielding the machete that killed Red, "Give me the cure now!"

Sekott was delusional and one minded about one thing, the man before him was a demon, sent here from Satan's underworld, to corrupt God's earth with blood sucking evil creatures. Jay is the leader of these monsters. He made me this way! He must die! They all must die! God will reward me for this!

Sekott, appearing out of nowhere, caught Jay off guard. He had been hiding in some shrubbery and was watching everything they did. He chose this moment to advance. At the same moment Sabine took a running jump at Sekott with the knife in her hand. Because she was trained in Korean martial arts, she was able to propel a debilitating blow heading right for Sekott's neck. Sekott was supercharged with adrenaline, fear, delusion and madness. He jumped to counter Sabine's blow and they collided in the air, both falling to the ground. Sekott was a half a second faster in regaining his balance, and he hurled his body at Sabine this time, knocking her backwards onto the hill slope. Sabine plummeted down the hill, her limbs trying to stop her fall and catch hold of anything. She lost her knife as she rolled and plummeted down the slope.

Lamai felt the light leave her. There had been a presence, guiding her, helping her complete this mission of mercy. It was gone now. She was frightened and alone. She was left to her own emotions. She reverted back to the last thing she was before she died. She became full of hate and rage and vengeance.

Pajau Yan felt this and could no longer aid her. She could not help a creature do something out of hate. Without expressing compassion, Lamai was not able to receive Pajau Yan's grace any more. She began to change back into the Lamai that was already dead. The temporary rejoining of spirit and body was coming unzipped, except, there was something that did not fade.

The vibration of Lamai still held within it the innocent resonance of her as a child. There was a time when evil or hatred did not even exist to her. As her soul warped, having re-meshed with her already dead body, and was now on the earthly plane without any divine help, a part of her screamed liked a scared child. At that instant, her innocence broke free of this sordid event, and went directly in the direction of the most loving thing it had very recently experienced.

Jay didn't hear the cars pull up as he ran down the hill to help Sabine. He took leaping steps and reached the bottom of the slope in seconds, to find the injured Sabine trying to stand up. "My leg!" she moaned, not being able to put pressure on it and raise herself up, "Jay! Look out!"

Sekott had ran down the hill after Jay and was now coming at him with a machete waving in the air. Jay did not have enough time to defend against his onrushing attack. He only had time to put up and arm and shoulder some of the blow. Sekott, out of his mind, dove at Jay, bringing the machete down on his shoulder. The blow did not hit him at a perpendicular angle, rather, Jay's defensive turn made the blade hit him as a glancing blow, that would likely leave a bruise, but never break the skin, let alone slice into him as Sekott intended. Sabine struggled to get on her feet, to both be ready to defend against this crazy man, and to land an offensive blow if she had an opening. She felt her left leg was probably broken, but her right leg was still an offensive weapon.

Sekott, having missed his swing was slightly off balance, and Jay's blocking motion allowed him to follow through with it and use his body to plow into Sekott and send him for a fall. Sekott's motion carried him to the ground and the machete left his hand.

Sabine threw her body, using her right leg as the launching mechanism, and came down with a sharp jab to the back of Sekott's head. Jay regained his footing and took a step in Sekott's direction ready to plant a fist in the back of his head as well. What neither Jay nor Sabine saw coming was Sekott using both his legs to thrust his body upwards and backwards. This motion carried his shoulders and head into both Jay and Sabine's body, knocking them both to the ground again. Sekott's skull connected with Jay's forehead and knocked him into the clouds where he saw stars.

Sabine was in a great deal of pain from having to plant her broken leg as she was falling. This removed her timing, orientation and ability to launch another strike, as she grasped at her leg and endured the pain. Sekott ran over and kicked her square in the ribs and caused her to roll over. He planted another kick into her ribs on the other side of her body. She groaned in pain as she felt her ribs take the blow from his boot.

Sekott had disabled her from this fight, but to be certain, he placed one more powerful kick into Sabine's broken leg. The pain from that last blow was almost too much to bear for her. She howled in pain and held her injured leg tightly. Sekott saw Jay was delirious and out of his senses, and at the same time saw his machete on the ground.

He picked up the weapon, drooling, breathing heavily, and with a maniacal smile and laugh, he raised the blade to strike at Jay's neck. "You foul, demon-loving sinner," He screeched, "Now you die!" The blade whizzed through the air with murdering intentions, aimed at decapitating Jay.

Sekott never saw him coming, and Tone, who had the added the speed that gravity gives from running down hill, launched his body like a missile at Sekott and collided with his body, collapsing his stance, and sent the blade flying again.

Tone had just recently arrived at the site and saw the scene unfolding below him. He had proceeded down the hill at breakneck speed, wanting to help his friend, and wanting to have a shot at the guy who had a whole lot coming to him.

Tone recovered from his airborne attack quickly and was on top of Sekott with a fury. He thrust punch after punch at Sekott's face and broke his nose by the third connection. He had Sekott on the ground, who was trying to cover his face from more blows, so Tone took to kicking his ribs in. When Sekott tried to shield his ribs, Tone landed a kick square on his temple, and knocked him the fuck out. "Call me a nigger you little bitch?" Tone screamed at him as he spit on him and planted a half a dozen more kicks on his head and already broken ribs.

Jay was coming to again and his vision cleared from the fog he had just been in. He saw Sabine lying on the ground, holding her leg in agony. He saw a dark figure kicking the slumped, belly up body of Sekott. His vision cleared a little more as he saw the person doing the damage was Tone. How the fuck did he get here? Am I knocked out and dreaming this? Then he saw something else straight out of a dream, or a nightmare.

As the new Hia, Ice, was attacked from behind, and lost connection with his charge, he stumbled forward and fell onto the floor, unconscious. The old man went to the stone challis on the altar and seized it up from its resting position on the shrine. He drank the rest of the sludge that was putrefying in this unholy cup. He had instant access to Lamai's presence, even though he was no longer a shaman. She was deteriorating quickly. The magic he had cast, and the magic that Ice had called upon through Pajau Yan, was leaving her mortal form forever. The old man used every bit of will, desire and hatred, and focused it into her body for one last motion.

Lamai's skin tuned ashen black, like coals from a garbage fire. Her face began to shrivel and her eyes sucked into her sockets. Her hair began to fall off of her head and her teeth fell from her mouth. Her torched skin began to flake and ooze. She was degenerating and decomposing rapidly, as she had been dead for quite some time now, but with one last push from the old man who used to be Hia, and with the power of all of the selfish hate inside of her soul, she howled and ran at Jay with a screeching, hideous wail.

Tone saw her coming and took a step towards her onrushing assault. He projected his fist towards her ugly face, something he had always wanted to do. Lamai, with the last burst of power and strength left in her horrid stinking body, flung Tone out of her way like a discarded beer bottle. Tone collided with a tree and slumped to the ground, senseless and stunned.

Lamai didn't slow down at all from Tone's effort, and screaming like a banshee, she catapulted her crumbling self at Jay, who was still on one knee, gathering his wits. The old man who was the one to reanimate her and control her, did not have his unearthly power anymore, but he did have all of the power of hate and cruelty still within him and with the little bit of arcane skill he still retained from the powerful ritual and the magical components they both drank, he was able to direct it into Lamai's effigy, and kept her potent for one last attack.

Jay eyed Sekott's machete on the ground. He grabbed the heavy metal handle and swung it upward as Lamai's body flailed towards him. He had the angle, the power in his swing, and the extreme sharpness of the edge that the blade kept, to concisely and powerfully slice into her neck. Her forward velocity, Jay's strong uppercut swing, and the fact that her body tissues were disintegrating, was enough of a twisted ballet to sever her head completely off of her body. Her face contorted as her flesh peeling skull departed from her neck and spun through the air. Her body did not lose any of its trajectory though, and it crashed into Jay once again, sending him toppling into the river.

CHAPTER 33 RECKONING

¤¤

It was a beautiful afternoon in the northern mountains of Thailand. Sunlight poured down through the jungle tree canopy, and painted calico patches of brightness and shade on the ground. A river meandered lazily over rocks and sand, on its way to the next bend, and the next. The water was cool and clear, and sweet on Jay's tongue. Jay lay in the river, trying to come to his senses and see what was all around him. The first thing he saw was the river and the beautiful sky, raining magnificent sunlight on the world. The next thing he saw was Ajarn Santee.

Ajarn Santee stood by the river's edge, dressed in brilliant red robes and wearing a large monk smile. "Hello Jay!" he called, "You have done well!" Jay stood up in the river, his head still spinning and his body, soaking wet, bruised and muddy. How did Ajarn Santee get here?

"Prat Ajarn?" Jay looked confused, "I don't understand. How?"

"I have been with you the entire time, Jay," he exclaimed, "I have guided you and you have done well for me." Jay, remembering the fourth element of earth, and the mission he had been on for the last week, pouring all of his effort into, asked his friend and teacher, "Ajarn Santee, can you tell me about the element of earth, and where I can find it, so I can complete the healing mixture, and be free from falling into the same madness as Sekott?"

The monk had a less than warming look on his face, "There is no fourth element of earth, Jay," he said, "Actually, there are no elements at all." his smile departed. "The cure you were seeking never really existed, the way you thought." Jay was completely baffled now.

"Ajarn, I don't understand?" Jay asked, "What was I doing then all this time?" Jay looked around himself, trying to see Tone and Sabine, Sekott and, what was left of Lamai. They were not anywhere near where he was. At least, he couldn't see them. "Ajarn Santee," Jay inquired. "where is everyone that was here during we were fighting?"

"Well, Jay," the monk communicated, "Everybody is still here. And as for the cure you thought you were searching for, well, you were actually taking care of some business for me, and now, it is all coming to a close. Take a look over here, Jay." The monk pointed to his right and took a step aside. Jay was back in a fog and totally clouded and confused by what he saw.

Lamai's sisters, Belle and Som, were standing over two bodies that were bound in ropes and laying face down on the ground. The captives were Tone and Sabine. Jay tried to stagger towards them, but as he began to move, Ajarn Santee instructed him to stay where he was, and Belle and Som pulled out guns and pointed them at his friend's backs.

"Ajarn Santee!" Jay demanded. "What is going on here!"

Belle stopped pointing a gun at Sabine's back and turned to face Jay's direction with it. "Have you ever considered yourself a fool or a sucker, Jay?" Ajarn Santee asked, "I am sure you have, and you resemble this condition very well. Who do you think helped these two girls here to immobilize Lamai so that they could suck on you for a while? Hmmm?"

Jay thought about this and considered what the monk was implying. Was this monk really behind those events of that night? Did he help them drain me?

"And how do you think I got there so fast? Hmm?" he said mockingly. "I helped them do what they needed to do to take Lamai out of commission for a while. I had them drain you, and I was there right after they did."

I can't believe what I am hearing! Ajarn Santee set me up? Really?

"Then, when you were between the worlds, do you remember who was talking to you?" The monk asked, staring at Jay with hurtfully knowing eyes.

I thought I heard Kelly there, guiding me. I remember now!

As if Ajarn Santee read his thoughts, he responded, "Yes, you thought you heard a friend from your past who told you to leave the forest and trust the warm fire. Guess who was actually the warm fire? And guess who was pretending to be that friend to gain your trust?"

Jay was beginning to feel a sting set in. Was I really being duped this whole time? This is unbelievable! What is going on!

"While you were out, you were injected with Lamai's blood as you were told," Ajarn Santee reminded him, "But what I never told you was that I switched the syringes and you were injected with blood from my veins. While Lamai was busy listening to me give her instructions, I changed the vial of blood with that of my own. This is how I was able to intimately know you, become a part of you, know what you were thinking and where you were going, and most of all, to get you to trust me completely.

I required Lamai to send you with me next, for your recovery, which she agreed to. While you were at my monastery, you did everything I asked, and you prayed to my master, who was not the benevolent Luangpu you thought, but was the collection of the fifty-eight, flame-haloed, wrathful, blood-drinking deities, luring you back to the sangsara, and masquerading and appearing to you as a golden being of light. It was the flame of devouring that cast that light!"

Jay didn't understand exactly what the monk was saying but he knew he was now starting to understand that he had been the biggest fool ever, and that he was as fucked as his friend Tone and his new acquaintance Sabine.

Jay looked around for anything to use as a weapon, or any direction that could serve as an escape. He was in a wide open area with no cover, standing in a stream full of tiny pebble sized rocks that could be no more dangerous than sand. He was at the mercy of this twist of fate, so all he could do was listen.

Ajarn Santee saw that Jay knew he was trapped, so he continued to astonish Jay with the details of his deception. "Lamai had no usefulness to me, so I helped her sisters put an end to her. She died quite a horrible death. Her blood hardened into charcoal inside her veins. Then her body was desecrated with tiny beasts that were meant to feed on you. But rather, I changed my mind and thought I could use you to help me remove some more plaque from this world.

You helped lead my servants, well, I guess you could call them assassins, and you led them right to Ajarn Pisset, a monk who knew too many secrets about me. He was quickly drained and disposed of and another one of my servants met you, as the monk you thought was Pisset.

He gave you a pendant, which you wore, enabling me to find you anywhere. The one I gave you was a worthless trinket, with about as much luck as a grain of moldy rice. I am eternally linked to the pendant that Pisset's imposter gave you and always I know where it is.

The pendant traveled to Ubon with a messenger of mine, who killed Pisset and helped the talisman to find its new home around your neck. I thought you might be more driven to lead my servants to my next target, if you were avenging the death of another friend, so I set Tone up for a fall. Tone should have died that night as I had arranged, but some bungler missed his mark. No matter, he can die today!"

The monk looked at Tone, lying on the ground bound and tied and smiled. Som, pointing the gun at Tone's back, began jumping up and down like an excited child, giggling and feigning shooting the gun into his torso over and over again.

"Ajarn, Why?" Jay pleaded, not being able to accept this grim tale of destruction that he himself was part of.

"I am a shepherd, Jay," the monk disclosed, "And you are a sheep. A sheep that was sent to the slaughter, but with some unlikely luck, you avoided it. So did your friend, until today. Did you really think you could come to my country, and just do whatever you wanted to do, with no consequences? It's payback time Jay!"

This monk is crazy! And there is no way that I am going to let him hurt me or my friends, I didn't come this far to be snuffed out by an old little holy man who is actually a fucking assassin!

"After you fled to Bangkok, I thought it might be easier to let the network of corrupt officials locate you and your friend for me, so, I left a little dead present in your bed. I also left you a photo souvenir and sent some to the police as well. They didn't arrest you, because they allowed you to escape. But they did get Tone here, and I let him have one last fight with the strange Mr. Sekott, just for my own amusement. It was better than Muay Thai kick boxing actually!"

The monk was enjoying his own boastful tale and grinned with pride. "So, then," Ajarn Santee conveyed, "you did one last favor for me. You led me to Red, Gwaang and now, Sabine. These are the three people who know of a cure, that will never be used, because their knowledge will have died with them. Sabine will die soon enough, but Red, Red's a dead man! And Gwaang, well, after Lamai's little cameo, I sent some real killers in to wipe out that entire community. There will be less opium on the market I'm afraid though. And poor little Soonan, well, she is resting in pieces now, probably being eaten by the same fish around her tea house that she used to feed. Now she is feeding them with her severed hands, not just her hands."

Jay grew enraged with emotions of remorse, anger and hatred. He started to run at the monk, when a headless, burnt corpse stepped from behind Santee and blocked his attack. The creature knocked Jay onto his ass, and all Jay could do was stare up at the laughing monk and wonder what was going to happen now.

"I see you have been reunited with, your, love?" The monk questioned Jay, who was staring up at the hideous, headless corpse of the little freelance prostitute he used to put his cock into. "I decided that Lamai might be of some better use, since she was already dead. My close friend, the Hia, did a little reincarnation job for me, with this selfish slut." Ajarn Santee reached down to the ground behind him and picked up Lamai's head and placed it back on her neck. Leeches, worms and maggots crawled around and throughout the seam, connecting the two pieces of her back together.

"Take a look at your girlfriend now, Jay!" The Monk commanded, "This is what she always looked like. You chose to see what you wanted to see, because you are a fool, and you have spent your life, fooling yourself!"

The Lamai thing stretched its neck and felt its reattached head with its charred and ashen fingers. A puss-oozing tongue popped out of its mouth and licked its blackened, flaking lips. The eyes on this skull flashed open and stared right into Jay's eyes with crazed horror.

Jay was sickened by the sight of this, thing, that he use to, ......he couldn't think about it any more. He did actually love her. And to see her standing here now, burnt and twisted by some foul selfish deed, he felt complete pity and forgiveness for her lowly state. He felt nothing but love for the hideous creature before him.

He knew she didn't always look like this. Ajarn Santee couldn't be right about that he thought. Could he? He didn't care about anything that she ever did to try and fool or hurt him. He understood that she was only reacting and conditioning herself to the social and family pressures that she lived with and was unable to escape her entire life. Even in this grim condition, Jay accepted who Lamai was, and forgave her completely.

He surrendered to the powers that existed, and knew that only he could be responsible for himself and how he treated those around him. He felt a strange sense of peace and righteousness, even knowing that he was probably going to be dead soon. He looked at Lamai with forgiveness, rather than hatred. He knew he didn't fall in love with a monster. There had to be something good, something special about her. None of what this monk was saying made any sense. This can't be real!

"And now," the bright-red robed monk pronounced, "I will end this journey for you all, starting with you Sabine!" Ajarn Santee turned and walked over to Sabine, bound and gagged, lying belly down in the grass, squirming for her life with no progress. "You fucked me over before, you little ungrateful bitch! I taught you the craft and you couldn't even repay me with some bodily pleasure. I should rape you again, one last time, before I pull your heart out of your chest and eat it!"

That was it for Jay's pacifism and forgiveness at this gathering. He didn't care if he died. He accepted that he had fooled himself most of his life in many ways, but that he wouldn't anymore. He surrendered to this moment in time and knew that there was no more searching for what to do. He resolved to start the real work, right now, which was to care for and defend those who needed it most.

With every bit of power in his muscles, he leaped forward and sent Lamai's wasted bodily vessel reeling. There was nothing he could do now to help her except knock her out of the way as he went for the monk who was claiming that he was the cause of all of this.

He grabbed the monk's robes and tripped him up with them, causing him to fall over backwards and crash into the ground with his head hitting first. All in the same, fluent, slow-motion movement, he dove at Belle and knocked the gun flying out of her hand. He landed on top of Sabine and Tone's helpless, restrained bodies, and absorbed the bullets that Som was firing at the bound prisoners. The pullets pierced Jay's skin seven times. He drifted through murky unrecognizable images as his reality spun and wandered.

¤¤

Ice, grabbing the back of his head and feeling the sticky blood, stood up and turned around, having fully regained his composure. He was staring down at a pathetic old man who had never done an unselfish deed. The old man stood there, holding a statue of the lord of obstacles as a weapon.

Ice realized that the old man's obstacle was having always been someone to give commands, and never experience what it was like to be humble. He traded favors for power, but never came to know his own true power in itself. In Ice's wisdom, he realized that he could help this old soul out, on the road to understanding.

He could show this person what it was like to work and take orders, instead of always giving them. Ice, the Hia, summoned the powers of transformation, by evoking the goddess Kalima, and called on her to give this beast a new look on the samsara wheel of existence.

The Old man began to feel his blood boil inside of his body. He ran outside screeching and pulling his hair. He staggered and fell as his body shook and convulsed. Kali had understood that the idea of the new Hia was just and fair and in tune with the wisdom of the ancients. She, along with her angels and demons, descended through the planes to Malkuth, and turned the wheel of creation, to change this old man into a new form.

The old Hia's body was gone and his soul was carried to the nearest vessel, which was a grazing female buffalo. Here, the old man's soul would live, and serve, for the next four hundred years, as the old Hia had bargained, and the Ice Hia had doubled for him. Ice would be his master for now, and would help him learn humility by making him plow fields in the mud and the rain, under the sun, and in the wind, for as long as Ice was Hia.

CHAPTER 34 CONFLUENCE
part one

Ajarn Santee reached down and touched Jay's back. Jay was laying face down, and didn't appear to be breathing. Ajarn Santee's gold colored robes got wet in the river as he tried to turn Jay over onto his back. "Jay!" he called out, "Jay, can you here me?" Jay had a pulse.

Two medics ran to Jay's body and dragged him out of the river and up onto the shore. They began chest compressions, and within moments, a small geyser of water shot out of his mouth followed by gasping and coughing.

Air found its way into Jay's lungs and his respiratory system began functioning once again. As his mental faculties swam back into focus, he heard a helicopter gyrating and the sounds of people talking on two way radios. His eyes opened, and he saw Thai EMTs inspecting him thoroughly. Above Jay stood Pra Ajarn Santee, who was smiling down at him with a very proud smile.

People were moving into action all over the grounds of the 'Hole in the wall' resort. Men, dressed all in black, were chattering communications to their subordinates and controlling the theater. Thai Army soldiers dressed in camo, patrolled the perimeter with M-16 machine guns. American DEA agents, with their title brightly displayed on their backs in yellow, searched the area and were busy communicating with superiors on secured satellite phones. EMTs tended to Sabine, Tone, Sekott and Jay.

Sabine's leg was being splinted, having been broken when she descended the hill in disarray. Sekott was being handcuffed as the medics checked out his injuries. A man in a black uniform took the necklace with a pendant off of his neck and held it up to an electronic tracking device that was making a lot of noise.

Jay looked at Ajarn Santee's smiling face, first, with panic and confusion, then, without fear, and asked, "Whu- Whu, happened?"

"Good, Good!" the monk conveyed. "You were unconscious in the river. We all got here as fast as we could. I got my first ride in a helicopter!" He said smiling wide.

"Wha..?" was all Jay could say.

There was a bustling of people, commands being shouted and translators explaining things in Thai and English. Jay got to his feet. He was OK. But what the fu.....was I just dreaming? Jay looked around and was completely amazed and confused at the scene. There was no evil Santee in red robes, only the smiling, short, stout little man he knew, wearing the traditional gold robes of Isaan monks.

There was no Belle with a gun and no Som present. Jay didn't see any blackened Lamai Zombie creature, but there was a pile of ashes smoldering next to the river, a pile about the size of a barbequed pig. The ashes were black and white and resting in some lush green grass. The breeze scattered them and their smoke to the wind.

"Hey fucker!" came a voice from behind him. Jay turned around to see his friend Money, very much alive!" This must be a dream within a dream, or maybe this is what death is like. I remember people saying that you become surrounded by friends and family that have passed.

"I heard you were off and about looking for a cure. Did you find it yet?"

"Money?" Jay barely got the word out of his mouth. He was having a hard time processing the events and visions of the last hour.

"Yeah man, it's me." Money said, "I was pretty much dead, but, well, it's a long story..."

"Jay," Ajarn Santee said, "Now is the time to assemble the cure." First a Lamai monster, then Tone, Prat Ajarn Santee, and now Money? This surely is not happening.

Ajarn Santee handed Jay a bag, the bag Jay had been traveling with, with all of the elements he had collected over Southeast Asia. "It's time to put these together Jay. We have to do this now while we can help everyone who needs it! We can talk more later but we should move fast now!" The monk asserted. "There are a few of you in need of this immediately!"

Jay began to accept that this could be really happening. The idea of an evil Santee seemed ridiculous, but the idea of Money being here seemed impossible. He thought he might as well play along anyhow, as he seemed to have a big role in this story, or dream, afterlife, or whatever it was.

"Ajarn Santee," Jay asserted, "I have only found three of the components I need. I was told that you have the fourth."

"What do you remember about the day you spent in the waterfalls, Jay?" the monk asked.

Jay delved back in time, into his memories of that day at the waterfall. He remembered flashing through a whole host of recollections, but then, a vision suddenly occurred to him that he had failed to remember before. He remembered seeing Kelly hold out her hand and let some mud slide from her hand to his.

With this sudden insight and recollection, Jay ran over to where the blood vine was growing, thinking about the soil around it. He poured some water from a sprinkling can onto the earth around the plant that Sabine had cut from earlier. He reached down with his hand and stirred the mud into a paste. He place this mud into an offering bowl that was laying there, previously used as a water dipper bowl for the sauna hut. He lifted it up to his nose and inhaled the moistened mixture.

Jay took the handful of earth and looked up at her, not knowing what to do with it.

She lifted her dirty hand to her face and slowly licked some mud from her hand.

Jay raised his hands to his face and took a deep breath of this soil, remembering how it felt and smelled. He tasted the mud, very aware of its texture in his mouth and its deep ancient taste.

With a flash, he was transported back in time to that day at the waterfalls. He saw Kelly standing there, showing him this piece of information. That's it! The soil containing Luangpu Pupan's ashes is the element of earth! The smell and the taste of it confirmed his recognition completely.

As the element of water flowed up out of the earth in the living fibers of the blood vine and its juices, so did Sabine's magic grow from the earth that Ajarn Santee embodied in his practical teachings. The past, illicit, love affair they shared made this magic very strong and potent, combing these two earthly elements together in consciousness, in energy and in matter.

In the frenzy of a three year old child opening a present on Christmas morning, Jay mixed all of the ingredients together in the bowl. They began to fizz and boil slightly, but more so, the energy and belief that Jay was pouring into the concoction was making it a potent manifestation of spirit and earthly elements.

As Jay saw the mixture was complete, he immediately held it to his lips and began to swallow. He didn't wait for instructions, there weren't any. This was the first event of its kind performed by a foreigner. This was the culmination of the ending of Jay's solo mission. This was Jay healing himself.

He felt the deep, earthy-tasting sludge slide down his throat with ease, and when it reached his stomach, there was no sickness nor nausea. There was a profound feeling of completion of events. There was an ancient satisfaction of things beings restored once again. There was a new feeling of, 'everything is gonna be alright'. There was peace, pause and piety. Jay was wholly human again. Jay was cured. Jay was just himself, plain old Jay, nothing wrong, nothing special, only human, imperfect, fallible, teachable, and no desire to drink blood.

Jay looked up from the muddy challis and saw Ajarn Santee staring at him with a knowing and an old smile. He echoed the feeling of completeness. He was the shadow of Jay's sunny smile. Jay smiled back and stood up from his kneeling position, still holding the mixture. As fast as it went down, that was it, he was cured. He knew it inside of himself and he could feel it. It was unmistakable. He also knew what had to happen next, because Money was looking at him pleadingly and hopefully.

Jay handed the Challis to Money who was more than ready to taste its strange ingredients. He too wasted no time taking in the concoction and letting it do its thing to himself. Jay had no idea that Money was under the same influence as himself. Jay didn't even know Money was alive until a few moments ago. Is this just a dream? I guess anything is possible. Man, things just keep on changing!

This potion was the physical remains of a very powerful incarnation, so the act of ingesting them was the same as drinking from the actual blood of the savior or the eating of the flesh. As fast as Jay felt its effects, Money consumed the paste and all of his Pee Doot Lewat problems were also dissolved. Money was healed and he was smiling. He knew it as well.

Jay knew most of all that there was one more soul in need of this magic fluid. As much as this person deserved any retaliation against him, Jay understood that he too was meant to take this holy fluid and see what life had in store for him next.

Mr. Sekott was being held to the ground by military police and bound to make it impossible for him to escape. He was mad in his still mind which was echoed in his muttering, but Jay didn't care. The police moved just enough out of the way for Jay to approach. They had been briefed by their superiors on this mission to allow the Monk and the ones called Jay, Tone and Money to have free movement inside this drug bust theater.

Jay smeared a line of the paste on Sekott's lips, and like the difference between night and day, Sekott went from being a writhing maniac to being a peaceful baby. After he tasted the healing mixture and began his change, Jay fed him a spoonful which he eagerly swallowed. He looked at Jay with very intense eyes, and said, "Thank you!"

Sekott became as gentle as a lamb and gave full cooperation to those who were apprehending him. All he could do now was apologize, offer any form of compliance and give all the information that anyone was seeking. He was healed. He was himself again. He was happy to be alive, even if it meant to be in chains.

The magic of the potion, mixed with the physical components, went to work at the speed of one heart beat. Every blood cell set about a rapid correction sequence that eliminated all of the Pee Doot Lewat blood qualities and effects. The healing process took less than a dozen heart beats to conclude, nine to be exact.

Three young men just ate the holy mixture that included the remains of a very holy being. Some thing like this did not often happen on the physical plane on this planet. This was miraculous at least, and life changing for everyone involved. It wasn't just the relieving of a sickness, it was the introduction of things unimaginable. Each consumer now had the strength of generations of holy seekers inside themselves and at their disposal. Anything was possible now, and they knew it. What will be next?

Jay handed the remaining mixture to the smiling Ajarn Santee. He quickly accepted the bowl and tucked it inconspicuously into his Boht offering bowl, before any attention was drawn to it. He knew what to do with it. It would be sealed away and hidden and ready for any other deadly situation that might arise.

For now, the cure was gone. As far as any individuals who knew about it at this event were concerned, it had disappeared, out of sight and out of time. There was a whole other reality going on around everyone, but for the moment, the physiological, phisiological and supernatural changes that had been occurring to three individuals, was halted, reversed and corrected. These people were solely human, with no special traits other than their own imaginations, and the possibilities of accepting wisdom from the ages of teachers previous.

Outside of the circle of reunited friends was a group of international military, police and special forces, all who were involved in a grave and serious reality. A special multi-government operation was determined to hold someone responsible for the atrocities that were observed and the drugs that had been plentiful and illusive. The number one target on everybody's information sheet at this site, Mr. Gwaang Debolt.
part two

No body was sure who Debolt was, but the idea had been circulating for over a year now, that this man was responsible for the movement of opium into Thailand provinces from other countries, and he enabled the redistribution of it within and outside of Thailand. When they learned from a certain monk's that a description of this man proved to be a perfect match to everything they knew about him, they considered Gwaang a valuable target worth pursuing.

The monk had suggested that this man transported large quantities of drugs. A big bust was always a lead worth pursuing because it meant big publicity and big bonuses. The forces involved had quickly determined that Gwaang had switched to moving Ya ba methamphetamine instead of opium, probably because it was easier to make and to transport, as well as being a more profitable contraband. Ya ba was the new epidemic and it was responsible for an escalating crime wave all over the world, so it had become a new target for law enforcement everywhere.

The American forces were more concerned about the transfer of drugs to their own country, but the Thai forces were interested in any propaganda that made them look good. Ideally, this meant that the Thai forces could boast that they busted a non-Thai national and held him responsible for many, many crimes. It was ideal for the Thai reputation that these crimes were believed to be committed by an outsider of this country, which did not implicate a Thai citizen. It was also ideal that this event would be praised by all of the important newspaper headlines, boosting the reputation of all of the police bosses involved.

The American forces considered this mission to be a success because they had halted a flow of drugs that would undoubtedly reach the streets in D.C., L.A. and in New York. Also, they had spent quite a bit of money on this particular operation that had been ongoing for a couple of years, and ended in this large seizure. It didn't matter if the Thai forces kept the seizure and took the credit. The American contingent was able to photograph and document their task's results, and this meant that a similar amount of dollars would be allocated for their future missions..

This current mission, dubbed "Golden Triangle," had been fruitless for the U.S. special task group until this actual seizure. It all came to them, and the Thai authorities, by a stroke of luck. They basically had this connection and this bust, dropped in their laps by a stout little praying monk who told them about a transmitting device that a certain American citizen was wearing. This device led them to these drugs, even though the necklace containing it had been given to Jay by chance, and passed to a friend and then stolen, and brought exactly to this location. Intention has a way of self correcting.

Some one had to be blamed and prosecuted for this mission to be legitimate. The seizure of drugs in itself was not enough. The powers involved had to show the product and the end result. The large amount of money being spent by the international teams had to be justified, and of course the media spotlight needed to boast of this positive outcome. So this event was the perfect chance for all of this to happen, all at once, for every one. It was a win-win situation, for the Thais and Americans alike.

Gwaang Debolt, a man with no traceable papers, only known as the owner of a mysterious past and existence, was the main choreographer for all of this, as told by an old monk. The law enforcement agencies had little to go on, but the information they had documented was consistent. The local people needed to keep their silence and their distance from this deeply engrained menagerie, so nobody locally knew anything or said anything to any authorities. They all had a family member somewhere who was somehow involved in something that could be investigated, so being quiet was their best option. They might not be talking to the police, though they surely had a lot to say to each other in the form of gossip, shared with a bottle of whiskey or a bowl of spicy food with rice.

The special forces knew that a shipment was confirmed to be present when they found Mr. Debolt, as they had been given this information by Dr. Pra Ajarn Santee Saensri. This man had begun working with the Thai government as soon as he was able to correspond with someone he deemed reliable, and found someone who would take him seriously. This monk's identity would remain unknowable to the public for now, and the special task group could instead boast that a high ranking government official, with a good heart and an honest nature, was the brains of this operation. Only with this old man's help was everything able to be accomplished.

Ajarn Santee was no fool to the workings of the outside world. He knew about contraband flows, shipments, thugs, robbers, mafia, gangs, corruption, money laundering, family ties and sequential cover ups. He crafted a believable condition that he believed the 'powers that be' would get involved with, which they did.

The old monk had spoken to his law enforcement contacts, about years of observation and attention to a drug trafficker, named Gwaang DeBolt. None of these allegations were documented by the monk, nor traceable, but they gave him the credibility to tell this story about a man who plagued his country with habit-forming addictive drugs.

The old monk's story proved to be true. The Fifty Kilograms of Ya ba that Ajarn Santee claimed would be transported in Northern Thailand had just been discovered on site here at the Hole in the Wall. Ajarn Santee knew that a carrot of this size would have to be dangled in front of these military horses, in order to give them incentive to get involved. By getting them involved, he was hopeful that he would help his friend Jay.

Ajarn Santee genuinely cared about his American friend, and about helping him with the problems that his recent girlfriend caused him. Blood eating people were of no offense or matter to the monk, but corrupt, counterfeiting, killers were an issue not to be ignored nor taken lightly.

The monk hadn't passed on his supposed awareness of the drug trade until after he lost contact with his friend Pra Ajarn Pisset. He understood that things in his country were not commonly punctual, but this time he had a bad feeling about the situation that was happening far away from him. He was also feeling a growing concern for his friend Jay and could not shake the feeling, even as a meditative Buddhist monk. The monk had unknowingly sent Jay into a deadly game of chase.

The monk had originally spoken to a secretary in the Thai police department in Ubon Rachatani and gave her a name. This was the name of a man who Santee declared was responsible for making an illicit fortune from the Ya ba drug trafficking circuit. The name he gave them was Oleg Vladamir Okapal. The police were able to track Oleg because he was closely involved with pursuing someone who was wearing a necklace that had a transmitting chip placed inside of it. Follow the chip, find Oleg. Easy.

Ajarn Santee knew of Oleg and his activities because the effects of the illegal things this man did were far reaching. Ajarn Santee had lost at least two young children of his community to this man's greedy human trafficking. Ajarn Santee believed that no bad karma could come from his plan to set up the insidious Russian criminal.

Jay had been wearing a necklace that contained a traceable device in it since he left Ajarn Santee's temple, until the time he passed it on to Tone. Some monks who were more progressive these days had found the value of employing this technique. Ajarn Santee had clandestinely passed on this equipment with the idea that he could locate Jay later, when Jay found all of the elements that he was seeking. Ajarn Santee wanted to have a means to locate Jay, and hopefully his old friends, who were capable of supplying Jay with the elements to make a cure.

Ajarn Santee had intended to meet Jay at the Hole in the Wall resort, unbeknownst to Jay. All along, Ajarn Santee had planned to be a part of the cure after Jay completed the leg work, and wanted to have some of it for the future. The monk was too old and too tired to do all that trekking by himself, and he felt bad that he sent Jay on the mission at all. But now with a stored supply of this substance, he would never again have to endanger someone who only wanted to help them self.

Ajarn Santee had talked to his long time friend, Ajarn Pisset in Ubon Rachitani, and told him about the man Jay who was coming there to see him. The monk was to recognize this man by a statue that he would present him. In return, Ajarn Santee asked the monk to give Jay the element of earth that he sought. Ajarn Santee had passed this element to Ajarn Pisset some time ago and asked him to study it and see what he felt from it.

Pra Ajarn Pisset agreed to do this for his monk friend and also agreed to contact Ajarn Santee after they had met each other. Ajarn Santee never heard back from him and he began to worry and become concerned. Ajarn Santee made contact with the temple, Wat Patummalai, and learned that no one had seen the monk in a while. This was when Ajarn Santee contacted the police, and he told them about the tracking device and about Oleg, and tried to find out the whereabouts of the American named Jay.

The police also knew about Oleg, and it just so happened that the secretary that the monk talked to had also lost a niece to Oleg's trafficking. Oleg's bribe money did not reach this particular office on this day, and the police agreed to investigate him further and operate a GPS tracking search that located the device that he mentioned. It was activated by the code Ajarn Santee gave them, which was "Buddha bless."

Right after Jay had met with Ajarn Pisset, the monk was kidnapped and taken hostage. Oleg had ordered the abduction in order to interrogate the monk and try to learn the location or the direction that Jay was heading. He was trying to find Jay, and kill someone that he was traveling with as a favor to a criminal friend of his named Lamai. Ajarn Santee knew Lamai, and knew that she had close ties to the Russian criminal element, Oleg.

Lamai had contacted Oleg and told him that if he could discover the whereabouts of this man, and dispose of his dark skinned companion, that she would pay him handsomely, to the tune of one million Baht, which was an unimaginable amount for just a mere murder, and one that Lamai never intended on paying. She asked him not to kill the other farangs, but rather take them hostage and let her deal with them herself.

It didn't take long for Oleg's network of contacts to locate this obvious trio, and he took steps to learn what he could about them through the last person that they was rumored to have visited. Unfortunately for the late Pra Ajarn Pisset, that was his last day of prayer on this earth, but fortunately, it was also his last time to be on the wheel of life death and rebirth. He had reached nirvana, and stepped off of the wheel. Oleg's non-compassionate thugs slit his throat and drank from him. The last thing that Ajarn Pisset said to them was, "Everything is temporary."

Ajarn Santee suspected that Oleg, the Russian who was supplying blood-drinking katois with beautiful Russian women, and the rest of Siam with human slaves, had kidnapped Ajarn Pisset in an effort to find Jay and his companions. Ajarn Santee had word that Lamai will working with Oleg to find the traveling trio, and he suspected that fiding the locator pendant would find Oleg close behind.

So, the sometimes bungling and lazy local police, tracked Jay, the wearer of the identifiable GPS device, along his trail to find the cure for his disease. The monk reserved making any reference to the illness, but rather planted the idea of drug trafficking within the minds of the police authorities. Those police, with close surveillance, allowed the trio to be pursued by hired Thai goons as a sort of bait, in hopes of getting a big arrest and the end of the trail. As Oleg hired people to pursue and kill the foreigner, the police were able to locate those following the marked farang and make mid-level arrests along the way.

This was not a trivial event that the monk started rolling. He had been meditating for many years about how to serve the people of the world and help alleviate their suffering. In his years on the planet, many of them spent as an underground rebel, he had made many contacts and heard a lot of information about the bad things that people were doing in his country. This exposure that he gave law enforcement authorities was intended to remove the people that committed these selfish crimes, in removing some of the depravity in his community.

As a result, the first bust happened in Ubon, where a whole local gang was apprehended for various crimes that they had committed and the venerable Ajarn Pisset's body was discovered. With his discovery kept secret from the police bulletin listings daily, Oleg was unaware of his new popularity with the police and many more illegal activities were becoming obvious along the trail as more arrests were made.

Some of Oleg's henchmen had been identified and captured. One of them, who crossed paths with someone that Lamai had previously contracted, was unaware of the other man's intentions and he was seriously injured in the attempt to hurt the same, targeted, dark-skinned farang. He only succeeded in thwarting the other assassin's attempt and failed to take out his target.

Many of Oleg's accomplices and henchmen were silently removed during this tailing operation. Ajarn Santee succeeded in making this information internationally available after the murder attempt in Si Saket. The stakes were raised as the promise of a large drug seizure was introduced. Ajarn Santee had contacted the Thai Department of Drug Eradication and the Ministry of International Crimes in Bangkok, as well as the FBI and the DEA. He related to them his awareness of Oleg Okopal, but added the tasty carrot of Gwaang Debolt and his incoming drug shipment, so a much larger investigative force joined in on this pursuit.

The local police were asked to turn over all of their records and continue to pass on any relevant revelation. They were also informed that the Thai International force was in charge now and that they would make all of the decisions and issue all of the statements. The local police knew that this meant they would lose this notoriety generator, but they were rewarded financially for their deferment.

As the new cooperative force combined resources to track the one called Jay, or more importantly his necklace, and especially those in harmful pursuit of him, things started to happen quickly. Some one who added a lot of information to this investigation was one Tone Charlantain, who had recently been picked up at an obvious place, a screening line in an international airport.

One event that thwarted the assassins from murdering Jay, Tone and Sekott all at once, was the coincidental timing of the 'Equals Zero' campaign. The local police round up confounded Oleg's thugs, and they had to continue following their marks. Jay, Tone and Sekott were inadvertently saved by the local mayor's greed to be more in control of the flow of money.

So, with Tone giving a novel's worth of information about Jay and Sekott, and Ajarn giving ongoing help to those working from the command center, Jay, and anyone around him, became target number one for investigation.

Oleg was finally apprehended in Bangkok and admitted to nothing, although everyone around him implicated him with something incriminating. It is always a practice of threatened people to roll over and rat on whoever is above them in the chain. All of this information made the chase more important, and the dollar amount being spent kept growing in size to fuel this special mission. After Oleg's attempt to frame Jay with a dead girl's body, he was easily captured and held, despite of all the money he tried to use to buy his way out of this mess. A certain Polaroid camera found at one of Oleg's bars implicated him as connected to Halyconia's murder.

Oleg even offered to give the police all of the information that they wanted on Gwaang Debolt if they allowed him to return to Russia. The police did not agree and Oleg kept silent. In reality, Oleg knew nothing about Gwaang Debolt, and the police knew nothing about Oleg's lack of connection to him, but some of the opium that Gwaang had smuggled into Thailand had passed through Oleg's hands on more than one occasion. Oleg only knew of Gwaang's name because of the loose lipped gossip that circulated back to him about the main goal of this series of arrests.

Everything else that happened in this now global scenario was a matter of fate. The random motions of Jay's directions, the transferring of his beacon-like necklace, the alchemical interventions of the Hia's meddling, and the supernatural pursuit of the now dead Lamai, all kept Jay traveling one day longer. Tone had been cleared and released by the police, and the old monk Ajarn Santee fueled everyone's desire to end this chase with the promise of a big drug bust.

With erratic GPS readings coming from remote mountainous regions, tracking by electronic means became more spotty and unreliable for a time, but a signal grew very clear near the town of Sop Pong, and the forces moved in then. The task force tracking the signal was under the impression that it was carried by a person named Jay Michaels, and they had been relaying that information as well, when in actuality they were tracking Sekott, who was traveling through Northern Thailand's mountains while Jay was in the country of Burma.

The task force had been thoroughly confounded by the reception of two GPS signals. One signal was identified when they caught up to Mr. Tone Charlantain in detainment at the Suvhanihumi Airport, but another signal still appeared to be transmitting in Mae Hong Son province. A little coincidence was what created two separate signals when they tracked the device that responded to the code "Buddha bless." Both Pra Ajarn Santee's and Pisset's code for their traceable pendants were exactly the same. These two men thought very much the same since they were friends since childhood, and their similar thinking was present in their electronic password codes. When Ajarn Santee's pendant was activated, the one Ajarn Pisset gave Jay was also activated unknown to everyone.

So, three individuals, two more deserving than the other, were rescued by this joint task force who had no real concern for the lives of any of them. One international drug mastermind was terminated and the flow of drugs was stopped, as reported by the media. The special task force was rewarded with the bragging rights for the dollar amount of drugs abated. Somehow, at this joint rendezvous, a large amount of drugs were located and seized near the burnt remains of the body that was thought to be responsible for moving all of this contraband, Gwaang Debolt. The task force had the drugs, and the ashes of the perpetrator were discovered. That was enough to close the books on this case.

Jay poked at a clump of ashes that had been Lamai's? He blew on them, as if trying to kinder a spark, but that spark never ignited. The fire was gone. Police moved in for forensic analysis. Gwaang Debolt's charred remains, were discovered next to an undamaged satchel full of the illegal drug, Ya ba. Even more Ya ba was discovered strapped to a motorbike that was believed to have been Gwaang's. Gwaang was reported to have been terminated in a struggle just before the special task group arrived. There were some ashes near the drugs, bust most of them were reported to have been scattered in the river.

How he had become so emaciated by flames was still a mystery, but the evidence next to him made him as guilty as anyone could be. The street value of five million US dollars was assigned to the amount of meth in this bust. Some how, Gwaang Debolt, international drug smuggler, had been defeated and his entire stash was recovered.

Sekott was implicated with Red's death, and fully admitted to it in his current state of remorse. As he was led away, he swore that he would make amends no matter how long it took him to do so. He did truly feel a sincere state of remorse, and would carry that guilt with him heavily now.

The mysterious Lamai, who was on a list of co-conspirators that had been revealed, had avoided capture, and had been rumored to be working at a go-go bar in Bangkok, still under the financial umbrella of Oleg, and still engaged in illegal profiteering. It is amazing how gossip travels.

Oleg was the main perpetrator who ordered the Ya ba for resale and performed the operations of operating human slavery routes. He was now being thoroughly detained, investigated and prosecuted. Gwaang Debolt, the main manufacturer and trafficker of these drugs had been destroyed in the process. This international task-force police-action was all over except for statements to be collected.

Tone held Sabine and comforted her as he tried to explain his sordid part of this tale. She was just happy to have the wonder of human touch interact with her own human body. They became a refuge for each other in the midst of all of the crazy processes going on all around them. In the days to come, they found that they were inseparable.

Jay held his head in disbelief. He could not believe what had just happened in his life, and he related this in very small pieces to the authorities, as the monk had encouraged him to do. Jay was not the prize that the task force was seeking, so he was able to present himself as an innocent bystander, caught up in the process by chance. He basically told the police nothing.

Jay couldn't believe that this was over, and everything that had happened. He couldn't piece it all together right now. He was accepting that this really was reality. He needed a break, somewhere to relax and heal, and somewhere with not much going on besides sunsets and sunrises. A short walk with his monk friend had convinced him to travel for now. A few days on an isolated island beach would give him all his mind and body needed, and it was at the expense of the specials forces bulging gratitude, he was assured.

CHAPTER 35 PIONEERS

Jay and an old monk walked down a dirt road together, talking about the recent events that placed them there, on that exact road. The American drug task group was pulling out and heading back to small offices to file volumes of paperwork. The Thai forces claimed that they were heading to do the same task, but in reality, the drinking of whiskey and soda water became the focus of their evening. As all of the forces present seemed to be satisfied with the day's operations, they began to disappear from the Hole in the Wall and head back to Chiang Mai and Bangkok, where all of the main offices where.

Jay was in need of some kind of reprieve, and the monk that encouraged the idea of an island escape vacation. Jay was listening to the monk tell him to relax as his head was about to explode from unanswered questions swimming in his brain. Jay could not just relax, at this moment, and he wanted to have some enlightenment of his own design, in the form of a few answers. He interrupted the monk, Ajarn Santee, who was speaking of trees and waves and sand.

"Ajarn," he began, "I am a complete mess. I don't know what is real and what was a dream anymore. I don't know what happened to everyone that I cared about or was running from. I don't know what just happened or what will happen next. Until I know what all of this is or was about, I think that I will remain being a total mess!"

"OK my confused one," Ajarn Santee said, "Let me try and help your poor brain, even though you are perfectly OK already, right here, right now, just the way you are."

Jay wished he could believe that. "Thank you Ajarn", he said, "with everything that has happened, like I told you, I am a confused mess."

"You are not so much the mess that you make yourself out to be." The monk said to him as they walked away from Sabine's home-stay resort together. They continued walking down the dusty dirt road in silence for a pause, and then Ajarn Santee began to speak.

"In this process that has all just unfolded near the river, you showed the compassionate virtues of a holy person. This tells me that you were probably a Pra Ajarn in a past life. You should consider giving it a try in this lifetime! You even have the shaved head to start your initiation now. Even though some of what you experienced was a dreamlike state of reflection, you saw an evil ugly person and felt pity, forgiveness, acceptance, surrender and resolve. These are hardly the attributes of a person who is a mess, even in a dream."

"Well, was I dreaming that you came to tell me how you set me up with all of the murders, and that you were going to kill everyone?" Jay asked, still perplexed from the visions.

"You were knocked unconscious Jay", the monk explained. "But during that time when your body was not actively participating in your surroundings, your mind still was. I saw some of what you saw, even though I was not creating any of it. On my travels here, I was linking with you every step of the way, trying to understand what was going on and what you were experiencing. I do not know why you saw me as an evil person. Perhaps you were facing your own inner demons portrayed as people you have recently met. The first love of yours in this country received much of that love that is inside you. This is something that most people will never know. You even gave it to her twisted dark side in your vision. Aside from that, you saved yourself and a few of your friends from certain destruction."

"But why would I perceive you as an evil monk in my dream." Jay asked.

"Well," the good monk said, "I am also not sure, exactly."

"I don't understand why I was watching everything come apart right before me." Jay added.

"When you were knocked out," The monk said, "I was watching you as I said, but I was also trying to send you the ideas of love and forgiveness of betrayal. I knew this would aid you in coming to terms with Lamai. I did not foresee that you would mix the feeling of betrayal with all those around you, including me. You saw everything that was around you as something against you. This may have been you battling aspects of yourself that you have not yet come to terms with. You forgave some of them and the rest, you decided that it was your challenge. You forgave Lamai and you stood up for your friends with your life."

"I see that whole scenario so clearly," Jay said, "including you in your red robes. But I know now that none of it was real, except maybe, the part where I was ready to let Lamai go and start caring more for my friends."

"You have gained wisdom from that unconscious time in your life." Ajarn Santee said, "I can see that you are not afraid of me now, am I right?"

"No!" Jay insisted, "I know that all of that was all unreal. I know the only reason I would fear you is because of your purity and lack of shadow. I would only fear that in myself which I have not obtained but see that it is possible in people like yourself. What ever you were offering to me while I was in that dream, I must have used it to its maximum potential. What ever my feelings were for Lamai, maybe I realized that I did love her, and probably always will, but I don't have to live with her and be led by her agenda."

"So, what do you think is next for you?" The monk asked.

"Next?" Jay attested, "The only thing I can think of is getting away from here, and that relaxing vacation by the sea that you were suggesting. But I still have many questions, for instance, why did you tell me so very little about the cure and the people involved with it when we were back in Isaan?"

"Well Jay," the monk began, "If I could have, I would have just given you the cure and none of this would have happened, but that was never a reality. A while ago, the four of us who represent the different elements lived together and prayed and worked together. We all had a less than orthodox view of our religion, and we worked with the special powers that we could access with the help of my master Luangpu Pupan. The cure came out of our combined efforts and it was successfully used one time on an unfortunate girl who had the same condition as you, except for the fact that she was a severe drug addict. After she was cured, she stole from the temple and almost killed Sabine, while she made off with the cure that we created for her. She saw the cure as a way to make money, and tried to sell it to farangs that she intentionally injected with Pee Doot Lewat blood. We agreed that we had to be extremely secretive about this method and we vowed to follow a protocol about revealing it to anyone. I did not want to bother you with too many things at the time you set out to meet Ajarn Pisset, so I failed to divulge a lot of information to you. I am sorry for that but I thought that I was protecting you."

"OK, I get it, but where is Gwaang? What happened to him? What happened to Lamai? Where did those drugs back at the Hole in the Wall come from? Where did the CIA and the DEA come from? Where did Money and Tone come from? What the heck happened to Sekott? How is Sabine? Soonan? Lamai's sisters? How are you and how did you get here? And how is Red?"

"You are far from relaxed I see," the monk said, "even with the love that is inside you. I can't answer all of these questions right now, but you will have your answers in time. For now, I want you to know that Red is not with the living anymore. Sekott killed him and took the pendant that you gave him. That is how this whole conglomerate of people, including myself and Tone and Money, were able to track you here."

"Sekott killed Red?" Jay asked astonished, realizing that he was lied to about Red by Sekott. Jay thought that Sekott was being arrested just for being a raving lunatic. This was heartbreaking news to Jay. "Red was such a good person! That is so not fracking fair. I knew he was crazy but, Sekott! Damn it! I led him here! It's my fault that Red is dead!"

"Yes, Sekott was mad with the disease plaguing his body." Ajarn Santee said. "He really was not to blame for his anything that he did. His physiology could not handle what ages of evolution created. And for sure, you are not to blame!"

"I will miss him so much!" Jay said looking down."

"I know Jay." The monk said. "I also know that Sekott will turn around now, and see what was done and what can be done. I see that he will face the same realities that you face. You have seen these things for yourself, but others have spent lifetimes trying to practice the right view, the right thought, the right speech, the right conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. These will be unignorable forces for both you and Sekott now. You have help though. You have your friends, and you have me. You have the whole enlightened and conscious community that exists all over this planet. You have Luangpu Pupan, and all of the Buddhas, for example. They can be your guides. You have your life's work, the Dharma, as your path, and of course you have everyone else in the Sangha, the helping community, as your allies."

"A lot of what you say makes sense to me," Jay said, "But so much goes right over my head."

"You are a natural practitioner of sacred principles, Jay." The monk declared. "You practice faith, morality, generosity and wisdom in your daily life. These are the things that a Pra Ajarn strives for everyday. Everyone alive knows suffering. We cause it, and we try to end it. That is the same for Mr. Sekott. He has had his time to cause the suffering. Now he has an opportunity to try and end it for others, like you have ended your suffering that came from crossing paths with Lamai. Don't hate Mr. Sekott. Use your attention to make that which is good, even better."

"But what about Sekott's crimes?" Jay asked. "And what about the police forces that are going to be asking me more questions?"

"All you need to say," the monk repeated, "is what you have already said. Sekott will create his own future. You need not accept his karma in any way, or waste any of your own mind contemplating him. The police found what they were looking for. They found what was left of the body of someone that they were looking for whose name was Gwaang Debolt. They found the drugs that they believed he was carrying. They inadvertently found an American citizen that they could help out in the process and get his statement. They have everything for a closed case, and this can all be over for them now."

"But I am sure that I saw Lamai, not Gwaang, turn into a rotted and charred carcass. And where did those drugs come from?" Jay stated. "I have done a lot of possibly illegal things in my life, and even recently by the laws on the books in Thailand. I did see Gwaang, and taste Kwaan Yin's flower, but I never was involved in this massive drug trafficking, as far as I know!"

"Yes," the monk spoke, "It was Lamai's body not Gwaang's, that they found, but the truth was given to the police in a slightly different fashion. They knew that drugs were being shipped across the border, by someone, probably Gwaang. They found those drugs. They had a name and finger prints that identified who they suspected. They found materials with those fingerprints, and identified them to the burnt remains they discovered upon arrival. So the police have what they wanted, and helped you and Money in the process. This case is closed as far as they are concerned, and so am I. Sekott wont tell them anything new because he won't remember much. We won't make any mention that my desire to help you involved revealing the goings on of Oleg, and the fact that a couple of large packages were delivered to this site. I may have some added Karma because of my deceptions, but I can deal with it, and you are safe now!"

"But Ajarn," Jay pleaded, "I still have so many questions!"

"You will have all your answers in time friend." the kind monk proposed as he stopped walking and began to board the front seat of a truck that had just stopped to escort people to pre-arranged air travel. "For now, think about a few uneventful beach side days in a quiet area, and say hello to Money for me. I get my second ride in a helicopter soon!" Ajarn Santee smiled hugely at Jay as the truck started to roll out of site.

"How the fuck's it going man?" Money asked as he strolled up to Jay and Ajarn Santee got on the bus, waving as he departed. "I've been trying to get a word in with you ever since you gave me some nasty paste to eat."

"Oh my god!" Jay said grabbing Money's arm and squeezing it. "I can't believe it's you! That you're alive!"

"Yeah, it's me man." Money admitted, "I'm glad you are still alive after all of this."

"Yeah! Me too!" Jay said. "I thought for sure I saw you die, and yet..."

"And yet I am still alive?" James offered as an end to his sentence. "A lot happened since that night at the bar in Sakhon."

"Dude?" Jay asked again, "Is it really you?"

"Let's go for a ride," Money said, "And I'll tell you about it."

¤

Jay flicked the ant off of his leg before it could get too much information and tell the rest of its haplodiploidy sisters about the sweet source of consternation. This was a lazy day with lazy dealings. Jay was not surprised how short of a time it took to adapt to this style of daily existence. After the mess he went through, and the crazy ending that ensued, this was a welcome place to sit and do nothing.

His worries were left far behind him in Isaan and in the North of Thailand. He knew his friends Tone and Money were safe. He knew that his pursuers were in holding, or were somewhere else, not here. He knew that life was all up to him, and paid for by a collection of international forces. It was all on their dime, at least for now.

Ants continued to force themselves to march across the scorching sand. Jay figured that a certain amount of them were sent forth as pioneers, just to find the next event for their colony to engage in. Most of the ants stayed near home, dealing with hive building, maintenance, farming and child rearing. Jay wondered why so many ants were stuck in daily routines and never left the nest. He also wondered how the certain lucky ants that he could see, got the pioneering jobs, and got the special evolutionary instruction, to go find some thing new. He wondered about this most successful species of all the world's societies, and the fact that they kept very few males around, solely for the purpose of breeding, and then kill or eat them.

Aw, fuck those ants anyhow! Jay really didn't give a fuck at this moment. Life was on pause. Nothing was important. There was no one to be or no where to go. I survived! I fucking survived! Jay thought about the recent disturbing past. Now, his biggest problem was this ant that was disturbing him. He wasn't thinking about what happened back at the Hole in the Wall, instead, he was thinking, what kind of drink do I want next?

"Watermelon juice with orange, pineapple, lemon and Grey Goose please! And three ice cubes." Jay spoke aloud to no one in particular or no one that he could see. He just knew that his wish would become manifest in a matter of moments.

¤

Jay and Money boarded a black truck with shaded windows, real leather seats and sharp dressed driver. The forces that were there were not exactly gone yet, and some of their expenditures were to take care to ensure that everyone involved in the bust was delivered to their next destination. Ajarn Santee and everyone that he listed were given very special care. Jay had no idea where his next destination was, but Money for sure knew that he was heading back to good old Pennsylvania to sit under an oak tree and skip some stones in a pond, while sipping on a very hoppy India Pale Ale.

"So where are you going next? And what happened to your hair?" Money asked.

"I shaved it to be inconspicuous. So how the fuck are you alive?" asked a confused Jay.

"Well bro," Money let out, "You saw me go down and lose my pulse. You ran because it was all you could do. I don't blame you. I would have done the same thing! If you would have tried anything else, you would have probably died that night. But before I was completely across the line of never being able to breathe again, a warm powerful liquid entered my mouth and my system."

"You mean someone gave you some of their special blood?" Jay asked.

"Yes, I guess." Money said. "I was basically fucking dead! So I didn't know what happened or what was going on. Right after I was shot, some one dragged me off of the road and the people who were after us all never found me. They looked for me for days, but the man who found me got me as far away from there as he could. His name was Kritsana, and he was an old Pee Doot Lewat farmer who came from the south. He nursed me back to health with his daughter's help, giving me blood only as often as I needed it and giving me other blends of herbal teas to drink to slow the blood's powerful changing effects. His daughter spoke some English and was able to tell me everything that happened. When I had some of my strength back, I got the fuck out of there! I spent the better part of my time on the island of Phuket. I mixed in with every other foreigner there while Kritsana's herbs and the infusion of his blood helped me out. If there is one good hearted person in this country, it's him!"

"I thought you were dead man!" Jay exclaimed, "We mourned you! Made songs about you, drank toasts to you and sought to avenge you! God damn, I can't believe you are here."

"Not just here, but normal again, thanks to you. I began trying to track you down after I was fully mobile again. I also was interested in finding anyone who might be able to help me with the blood changes that I was under going. Man, I never felt anything like that in my life! I knew I was on my way to becoming something quite different. I didn't readily find any one I trusted, so I called up Kritsana again. He said he knew a monk that might be able to help. After many attempted phone calls to Isaan, I talked to an old monk you knew who said that he might know someone who could help me. That person was you!"

"So you talked to Pra Ajarn Santee," Jay asked, "And how did he get you here?"

"The monk told me he was looking for you, and so was the mafia and the police and the army and who knows who else! He trusted me when I told him that we were close friends, and he realized who I was from what you told him while he had been helping you out after you fled a scene where your friend got killed. He understood that it was me that you thought you had lost, and he asked me to meet him in Bangkok.

It was there that we dealt with all kinds of government agencies and met up with Tone. They were right behind your signal for the last few days and finally caught up with you today! We were on standby, and when they went in to make their move, we were shuttled here by helicopter. We didn't know what the fuck we were headed into, and we really didn't expect all of this. We were basically following Ajarn Santee around because he told the task forces that we were his helpers.

Ajarn Santee had the big wigs all hyped up about finding a drug score, but he talked to the right Thai police about my and your condition, and that you had a fix for it, so they gave me and Tone special clearance in this whole theater. Only a couple people knew about the Pee Doot Lewat and your involvement with them, in this whole scene that was officially a drug bust. Tone almost shit his pants, having flown in a helicopter, but Ajarn Santee seemed to love it. Tone got the same clearance as us after we cleared him from his airport detainment, which was another place he almost shit himself!

You had put together a cure that no one had assembled in many years. What you did was not easy, or even very likely, considering who you were dealing with as an aggressor. Russian people are not as friendly as the Thais in the land of smiles. You are lucky to be alive!"

"Yeah," Jay thought, "I am lucky, to be alive. I really didn't get that till just now. Everything was a series of reactions and destinations, and now, WOW, I'm just alive! Same as you my friend!"

"That's right fucker!" Money reinforced. "And now it's time for us to just relax. Listen to the old man. Take a break. Take a vacation. Watch some water flow in and out on a beach somewhere! Just accept that this shit is really over, and we can catch up later, get stinking fucking drunk, and talk about everything that happened!"

The truck stopped at an undisclosed air strip not far from the city where the Hole in the Wall was located. A truck was unloading passengers and an old monk was getting out of the front seat. There were three helicopters and two jets all being prepped in this airfield for travel. Tone and Sabine where already sitting on one of the helicopters together, becoming more inseparable with each moment. Money told Jay that Sabine was heading for a hospital in Bangkok and that they would be back in one week. Tone was going to be staying in Bangkok with Sabine, and Money was visiting his family in the states. Money also told Jay that they would all be meeting together in two weeks at the Song Kran festival in Chiang Mai Thailand.

"If you can meet us in a couple of weeks," Money said, "We will all have a blast, and you can ask me any question in the world. For now, I have a date with the other side of the world, and Tone is seeing to it that Sabine is being taken care of. I think something new has sparked out of this sordid tale."

Jay noticed that Tone was definitely holding Sabine lovingly as she was being adjusted in the helicopter. Tone managed to make eye contact with Jay and give him a peace sign salute before the door on the helicopter shut and the craft began its lift. Jay waved back as the door was closing and he had a feeling that he would be seeing them both very soon. Ajarn Santee also waved and boarded a Helicopter for the second time in his life. He was smiling very big as he seated himself and gave Jay an energetic wave as he spotted him. Once again, Jay shook his arm back at one of his friends.

"Listen man!" Money said, "I know everything has been extremely fucked up. I know that things are moving really fast. I know that you have unanswered questions, but for now, just trust me on this, everything is gonna be all right! It's all good now. No one is left to hunt you or stalk you. The police are full of bragging rights and drug seizures to count and weigh and test. I want you to pick the most relaxing place you can find, and then meet me back in Chiang Mai in about, thirteen days. We will be there for a week in a place called the Ba Ba Bo Bo Bar.' For now, there is a helicopter and a plane ready to take you wherever in the world you want to go. They will want to debrief you for sure on the ride and tend to your injuries. Just stick to exactly what you said so far, nothing else, OK? You were basically in the dark about all of this, and just happened to be wearing the tracking device. You basically know shit!"

"Yeah man," Jay said, "I can sense that my silence will be crucial in this Golden Triangle mission. And I will for sure keep it quiet too about the Ba Ba Bo Bo bar! We don't want any international drug task forces or reporters or insane, blood-sucking crazies following us there!" Money smiled and got on a plane and disappeared from Jay's sight.

Jay's whole life just flashed before him, and then he became a lone adventurer again, for now. Jay was approached by a tall young man wearing a black pinstripe suit and tie and was asked, where he would like to go.

"Bali Indonesia." Jay requested by impulse, thinking that it would be a relaxing place. As suggested by a friend from his recent Isaan past.

¤

Jay watched palm shadows move a meter across the sand before moving his ass in his lounge chair a few centimeters. He entertained himself by watching busy ants making efficient use of their time and energy, while he relaxed his. He sipped freshly squeezed juices, sometimes mixed with specially fermented or distilled products. He napped, several times in the afternoon. His hardest decision was what seafood he felt like eating at the moment.

It wasn't easy, but Jay decided on crispy, coconut-breaded, fried, jumbo shrimp with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce. Jay's mind also had the painful task of choosing a beverage to drink, which became manifest as a 'pain killer' cocktail was placed in his hand. The pain killer was a West Indies specialty, but a wise and traveled cocktail server mixed up the pineapple, OJ, coconut, nutmeg, and five shots of rum, much to Jay's satisfaction.

Jay sipped this drink with no interference from anyone, human or otherwise, and nobody was trying to kill him. No one was plotting anything about harming him. He spilled a little drink on his thigh, which an ant found shortly after. It turned out that here were some forces of nature still plotting to attack Jay, at least they were interested in attacking the careless drop of fruity drink that resided on his upper leg.

CHAPTER 36 SONG KRAN

Jay sat on a beach in a chair staring out into the sea with no sand in his crotch at all, thinking. Ants. Ants on a mission. Where are they goin? What are they doing? Who told them where to go and what to do? I am not an ant. I am a rock. The ants can crawl over me and walk around me. I ain't goin nowhere. The sun heats me up. The waves cool me down. The shadows paint my surface. The ants are so busy, using so much energy, working themselves to death, looking for food. I am a rock, in a lounge chair. The hot cocktail waitress brings me drinks, and food, and any thing else I need within legal boundaries, and some without. I like being a rock better than an ant. Just rock out man!

¤

"Where the fuck is Jay?" Money asked over sips from beer number three.

"He's at least seventy-ten beers away!" Said Tone over beer number..., lost count already. "That's just like him! Nothin but beer and bitches here and he's probably out saving some damsel in distress who actually is a demoness in disguise."

"Yeah Tone," Money added, "That mother fucker's got big plans and all I got is half a beer left to toast. Cheers man!"

"Cheers man!" Tone clinked back. "Cheers to you Jay, wherever you are."

The two compadres toasted each other, sucked down more suds, and kept a happy inebriated smile at the, 'Kick Back Bar' bar on a Thursday afternoon. They at one time knew that they were at the wrong rendezvous point, two days in advance, but now time had drifted back to the eternal moment, and they were both anxious to see their friend again, somewhere on this timeline, that is actually a spiral.

¤

Jay had enough of contemplating ants for this afternoon. He succeeded in raising his ass out of his lounge chair and let his feet sink into the sand as he slowly meandered his way back to his thatch and palm-leaf bungalow, which was not so far from the sea. It seemed like a good time for an oil massage, which probably included a nap, and then an appointment with an herbal sauna. This would be followed up by a swim in the sea at high tide, a shower to remove the salt and very little clothing to be worn to the hotel bar and restaurant. Tonight they were serving sea bass with mango chutney and Nasi Goreng, with a special fresh lime sherbet and candied cashews as dessert. (Did I mention the slow coastal taxi ride to the hopping international discotheque after dinner? No, oh, well then, it makes no sense to tell you that the club stayed open until the sun rose, and that it had swimming pools with live fish and swim up bars that served international alcoholic beverages and cocktails. Sorry. Meet me there sometime.)

After quite the worry-free, hassle-free, expense-free, island-paradise, bungalow vacation, Jay was feeling like life might not be like this every day, at least not yet, as he was not a millionaire, not yet. Tonight would be one last night of enjoyment on the expense account of the Thai government, and then, a new idea. Back to Thailand where the funds have been coming from. Back to see my bros. Back to the place that gave me enough material to write a book or two, or three. For now, the sand felt very relaxing on his feet, and warm, and not in a hurry to leave.

Jay was not in a hurry to do anything either. The chair would continue molding to his ass and the condensation would keep forming on his iced glass. Tonight meant another night of enjoying the club resort vacation atmosphere at the hedonistic bar. Jay knew that tomorrow meant travel plans to fly to Chiang Mai. Tone and Money were slated to meet him there, in the midst of a very interactive and participatory drunken water battle. The idea of people shooting water instead of bullets was appealing.

The rest of the world was going on in all of its perfect imperfections. Babies were born, old people were laid to rest, and everything between good and evil was being practiced everywhere. Some people were lucky enough to be disconnected from it all for a while on a tropical island.

That vacation came to an end and Jay now found himself forced with the difficult decision of whether to eat cheeseburgers or burritos, in the heart of Chiang Mai's party center where Western cuisine was readily available. Jay chose fish and chips. He wasn't British, but it was the easiest decision about his dilemma.

Jay left his solitude and relaxation back in Bali, and had flown to Northern Thailand once again, feeling relaxed, safe and anxious to see his companions. He was in this city during its new year's celebration, and the concept of solitude was quickly dissolved into the liquid that was in everyone's loaded water pistols.

The whole city was beginning to get ready to soak every human being with squirt guns of every design, water canons, water blasters and buckets full of water, many of them laced with ice to add the 'extreme' notion to it. There was a brief morning reprieve from this wet cultural phenomenon while the drunk people from the night before still slept and snored, awaiting their hangovers.

There was also a pause in the action after about seven o'clock P.M., that most water assassins honored during the evening hours, but would resume again in the sunlit hours of the next day of battle, after they got their hungover asses out of bed once again. The battle was going to last from about nine in the morning until seven at night, for the next three days.

In this bright and sunny morning, Jay was inclined to ingest some food now, before his French fries were subjected to the sogginess too come. Any one present in this area of the city was subject to unsympathetic and continual wetness, especially from those crazy, drunken farangs. So, it was better to go with the flow and enjoy it, or lock yourself in your hotel room if you cared to avoid it. Jay was here to have some fun and blow off some steam with his friends, who were of the same mind.

Tone and Jay walked into the restaurant and blurted out hellos as Jay tried to swallow his mouthful of food so he could return the greeting. "How the fuck's it going mother fucker?" Came the question from Tone's lips.

"I'm so happy to see you guys!" Jay chewed his mouthful of food and answered the query. He and Money and Tone exchanged hugs and a few secret handshakes close to being gang signs and then sat down to catch up on a long strange trip.

None of them were drunk, even Tone, who was surprised himself to be up this early and be beer-free. It was a happy reunion and a needed one, as each of them wanted to know what really happened and what was going to be next. They all chowed down on some greasy food that included the western staples of cheese, bread, beef and potatoes.

"So Jay," Tone said through a mouthful of masticated meat, "What exactly happened to that crazy Isaan bitch you were all up into, that damn near killed all of us? The last thing I remember, that ugly ass bitch, burnt and gnarly, was headed for you. I was about to knock her the fuck out but she instead did that to me! Tough little bitch, wasn't she? Anyhow, when I came to, she was gone. When the Po Po asked me about her, all I said was I don't understand in Thai 'Mai Kao Jai!' They knew they weren't getting shit outta me!"

Money cut in, "Yeah, we were both following Ajarn Santee's words and telling the cops and soldiers that all we knew about Gwaang. and Oleg was that they were names that we heard. We told them that we heard them being spoken by all the police about people involved with major drug smuggling, and that they somehow had links to your ex, Lamai. This seemed to be enough for them to go on, but they kept wanting to know what your connection to her and to all of them was. I really didn't, and still don't know anything about her, other than she had thugs who first knocked me out and then later put a bullet in my back."

"I just told it like it was!" Tone said, "That your brain was following your dick which was following this bitch around, until she tried to kill us. So what the fuck happened to her!"

"When did you meet up with Ajarn Santee, Tone?" Jay asked, wondering how they all became united again.

"No mother fucker!" Tone insisted, "You spit it first! What happened to that crazy bitch?"

"OK," Jay said, "Let me start from the beginning. I'm sorry I ever went off with her and blew you guys off. It was because my penis was thinking for me often, but she also had a lot of drugs and magical charms influencing me too, like I later found out that she was probably putting menstrual fluid in my beer and pubic hair in my food. Ajarn Santee told me about the typical black magic that people are known to perform, including non-visible oil tattoos that people use to hold influence over someone, and the soul-stealing, sniff-kisses that they give you so innocently. I will never know exactly what she did to me, and I can't blame her for my stupidity, so I can only say again that I'm sorry! I was misled, and blew you guys off for a girl who had no real interest in me.

Tone, when you and I left that sports bar in Isaan, and we thought Money was dead, I didn't know who she had talked to or who she had following after us, as much as you did. She apparently had Oleg use hit men to try to silence you Tone, by murdering you. Of course that didn't work out for them.

While the hit men were on our trail, the police were on theirs, thanks to Ajarn Santee. And what I didn't know as well, was that the whole time this pursuit was going on, Lamai was chasing me, or at least something that looked like Lamai. I don't know what had happened to her, but I am suspecting it was something dark.

The Lamai thing caught up to me across the border in Burma, and followed me to Sabine's resort. In a supernatural battle, the long neck ladies in the Burmese Karyn village were able to repel her with a song. The same song you were humming before Tone! I was able to use it too, but she damn near killed me right then and there!

The next time I saw her was at Sabine's, and Lamai was her old sexy self again, and naked, at first anyhow. Whatever forces were at work there changed her one more time, and she went back to being the grotesque thing that you saw Tone. After she collided with you next to the river, I did the only thing I could do to really cut things off with her for good. I chopped off her fucking head!"

"Ha! No more head for you!" Money joked.

"Damn Gee!" Tone said. "How do you know that she's really dead if she was something less than human?"

"I don't know for sure I guess." Jay said, "I only know that there was a pile of ashes lying next to where her body knocked me into the river. I am assuming they were hers, and the soldiers are assuming that they were Gwaang's."

"Who is this Gwaang guy anyhow?" Money asked. "Ajarn Santee was very secretive about him, but claimed his drugs were going to be where you were. I remember hearing Ajarn Santee talking to Sabine, Tone's new girlfriend, about Gwaang on his holy-monk, mobile phone. I heard him talking about some back packs and a motorbike needing delivery."

"Sabine is your new girlfriend?" Jay asked Tone surprised about this news.

"Who is this Gwaang guy?" Money insisted.

"Do they sell beer here?" Tone asked loudly.

"Did you notice that the hangovers and the memory loss is gone?" Asked Jay, "At least lessened, ever since PDL haven't put drugs in your drinks?"

"What were we talking about?" asked Tone.

"Who the fuck is Gwaang?" Money raised his voice.

"Gwaang is someone I would call a friend for sure!" Jay spoke. "Ajarn Santee was real hush-hush about this, so I expect you to be too!" Jay lowered his voice and leaned closer to be discreet and speak in a whisper about this topic, hoping no one was bugged or followed by more police or mafia.

Jay started to wonder if they were still being eyed as targets or potential meals. Did that cook put anything in my food? Did a girl in the back room spike Tone's beer that he's starting to suck down at nine in the morning? Are we safe here? Is all this really over?

In Jay's mind, he decided that this part of his story really was over. That was it. His inner voice told him that they were in no danger, here and now. He was back to being the self that he was before he had a string of what seemed like bad luck. He was back to being single, with freedom. He was back to Being a seeker, a teacher, a student, a lover and a sinner. Jay came to the country of Thailand with an idea of trying to do something good, and considering that a cruel mafia boss was in custody, some gangs were arrested, the heat was taken off of Gwaang and his village, a cure for special infections was assembled and one particular dispassionate, harmful female had met her karma, he supposed that he did play a part in something good happening. He also avoided being sucked dry in the land of smiles.

With his present questioning about being in current danger being put to rest, Jay spoke in a hushed, quiet voice to his friends. "Gwaang is a new friend of mine, and an old friend of Ajarn Santee's, who became the name that got all of the special forces involved to inadvertently save our asses. I'm not sure where he is now, I don't think anyone does, but for all the po po are concerned, he's dead and gone. I don't know exactly how everything got pinned on his name, or how a couple of bags of drugs showed up at Sabine's, but it all played it's part to take any heat off of Gwaang, and get us all back together."

"So Gwaang was the guy Ajarn Santee was giving us those holy monk stares to keep quiet about." Money said.

"Yes," Jay answered, "Gwaang was the element of air that went into the cure that brought you and me back to our regular diet. He used to be a monk with Ajarn Santee, who worked with Sabine, and my late friend Red."

"We heard that Red's dead." Tone said. "What else did you know about him?"

"Well, I know that he was a good hearted, giant of a man." Jay said.

"Did you know that he was also from royal blood?" Tone added.

"What?" Jay raised his voice in surprise.

"Sabine told me a lot of things," Tone said. "and that was one of them. There is going to be a royal funeral, and Mr. Sekott won't be welcome in Great Britain ever!"

"Where is Sabine?" Jay asked.

"She's resting up her leg back at the Hole in the Wall." Tone said, "She's arranging for a closure of the place for an undetermined amount of time. Also, her and I will be spending time together on a vacation in Peru, as soon as she can walk without crutches again. I always wanted to go there and so did she. We have more in common than I ever thought."

"I thought you two looked like you had a spark forming when I saw you together last." Jay said.

"I wouldn't have guessed it for me," Tone said, "but I found someone who makes me want to stop looking for anyone else. Sabine is so kind, she has an amazing mind, as beautiful a body as you have seen, besides being a total bad ass! After I saw you back at her resort, she and I spent every day together. You could say we are a thing now. Anyhow, Sabine clued me in on a lot of things during our time together, like Red having been a descendent from a royal blood line in Scotland, and her past with Ajarn Santee. The rebel monk had called her and asked her to plant something for the authorities to find when we all arrived. Even Sabine is being quiet about Gwaang and hasn't told me anything."

Tone shook his head and went on. "Santee, that clever mother f..., holy man! A while ago, he and Sabine and Red had got a hold of a shipment of Ya ba, and Sabine didn't really say how, but, they ended up with this large supply of drugs, and instead up being upstanding, Joe-citizens and turning it in, they stashed for future bargaining possibilities. Those possibilities played out about a week ago when everything went down. I know Sabine is glad that the shit is gone now."

"I'm happy for you and Sabine!" Jay said, "But what happened between you going to America and you ending up at the Hole in the Wall fighting with Mr. Sekott?"

"Shit!" Tone smiled and told his tale, "The Po Po picked me up at the airport, thanks to the tracking device in the necklace you gave me, and held me for quite a while. Thanks to your monk friend, everything was cleared and they talked to me about me about you and questioned the fuck out of me. I didn't say shit, and eventually, I was connected with the behind-the-scenes monk, and then I knew what was going on from his perspective. He suggested that I stick to my not-knowing-shit idea, and that pretty much worked for me. Because the Po Po got what they wanted, they even cleared a few discrepancies off of my record back in the states!"

"So some good shit came out of all of this for you somehow?" asked Jay.

"Yeah man, It sure as fuck did! I won't ever meet anyone like Sabine again." Tone said.

"And Money, what's up for you next?" Jay wanted to know.

"Thanks to you bro, I got shot, turned into a freak of nature that drinks blood, and then given a cure on a whirlwind adventure. While I was in Phuket, I hooked up with some interesting people who asked me to teach teachers how to be teachers over here. Phuket is not so bad a place to be. There is non-stop night life and quiet posh harbors on the beautiful coastline. I think I am heading back there to work as a teacher trainer, for a decent buck, and to enjoy my time next to the water."

"Sawasdee Bpee Mai!" They heard someone yell, which meant Happy New Year in Thai. From the street that was growing with celebrating people, a deluge of cold water came flying into the restaurant and soaked Jay, Tone and Money. They all let out a gasp as the chilled water soaked them and they realized that the Song Kran festivities were now under way.

Jay, Tone and Money joined in on an outrageous water fight that kept them squishy and sloshed for the next few days. They enjoyed being with each other and had one last, get together before traveling in separate directions. Nobody drugged them and nobody drank any of their blood during their stay in Chiang Mai. They were all nursing injuries, so they didn't party like rock stars, rather they nursed their drinks and even went to bed early one night.

¤

Sekott made a resolution to help the refugees from Burma and carry on Red's work. He knew he could never make amends for killing Red, and he was willing to accept the consequences, however harsh they may be. He did truly admire everything he found out about the work the man he murdered was involved in. He was extremely full of remorse and learning that he ended the life of a person with a royal lineage only made him feel more ashamed. From the prison he was in, he was able to access the internet where he contacted everyone he could that would listen, and using his wealth, he set up a virtual foundation to encourage people to make donations and spread awareness about the situation that the Burmese and Karyn people were living in.

¤

Jay and Money underwent very intense dreams in the days to come, due to the sacred ashes that they had consumed. The teachers and monks that taught Luangpu Pupan, and those who taught them and so on, were all somewhat present in the essence of those who took the holy ashes into their body. They felt the karma, the lessons and the desire to achieve nirvana from all of those teachers previous. They also received a sort of inner advance warning system, and anytime that a Pee Doot Lewat was in their vicinity. They knew exactly who it was right away. The underlying lesson that everyone received was, 'nothing really matters'.

¤

Jay wiggled his way into his seat, making himself as comfortable as he possibly could in an economy seat. His shoes came off, in the traditional Thai style. His head went back, and he began his ritual to deal with the cramped space of air travel. He closed his eyes, made himself small, and began to drift into slumber. His phone rang.

"Jay! How the fuck are you?" came a familiar voice, "I heard that you were in some kind of trouble! Are you OK?"

"Kelly?" Jay asked, "Is that you? How did you get this number?"

"The internet is and easy way to find people and stay in touch. You should try it! Why didn't you write me and tell me what was going on? I was really worried about you!"

"I'm OK. I was just on this incredible, crazy....oh, never mind all that. How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm great. I made some moves in my life. I got a new place, a big house in the mountains of Colorado. I've got a great new guy that is very nice to me, and I am working with the community to help homeless women, through the profits I make in my new shop where I sell organic tea, coffee and baked goods. My life is really good!"

"Man, that makes me so happy! I really care about you. I am so sorry that I left you hanging."

"Yeah you were a real shit! But don't worry about it. I still love you, and wish you well. I just wanted to make sure you were OK?"

Jay stared blankly in front of him wondering what life would have been like if he had stayed with Kelly. None of this crazy blood sucking adventure would have been in my life's chapters. Kelly was such a great girl. She deserves everything good in the world and I wish it all for her. Why didn't I stay with her? She is beautiful, sexy, kind, intelligent, generous to a fault, amazing! Jay's focus adjusted and he realized that he was on an airplane. He shifted his attention from the seat pocket in front of him with catalogs of duty free cosmetics for sale and began to watch the world news that the airplane monitor was playing.

"...After years of speculation, the Scottish historians confirmed that a child, missing since nineteen sixty nine, has had his body identified near the Thai-Myanmar border. There is going to be a service planned for him back in Scotland and Queen Elizabeth is awaiting the arrival of his remains. He is believed to have been from the old lineage of the legendary Queen Mary of Scots. Also, the identity of a controversial Harvard professor has been alleged to be involved in the death of the royal family member. The man alleged to be involved had left fingerprints and forensic evidence in the home of the deceased royal family member. Recent video footage has been released from an American tourist who witnessed this professor halt a bus in the country of Laos and was acting very erratically...."

Jay closed his eyes and sought to open them after he was airborne and awake again. Jay was a few deep breaths away from slumber when a voice pulled him back to the here and now.

"Excuse me sir?" A very comforting and soft girlish voice said, "Where are you going?"

Jay opened his eyes and repositioned himself slightly in his seat, making himself a little taller. He looked at the very attractive Thai lady who had just taken her seat next to him on this flight with the next stop in Hong Kong. "Oh, hello!" Jay said very smoothly, just in case she was single. (It's a guy thing.) "I'm heading to America. And yourself?"

"Sano," she said holding out her hand, "Sorry, my name is Sano, and I am heading to China for a teaching conference."

"You don't say?" Jay asked. "I used to work as a teacher also. I'm curious about what your conference is about. Jay. My name is Jay." He took her hand gently and gave it a polite but searching shake.

"Oh, that is interesting. I am going to be participating in an ASEAN Community conference on the subject of Laos students learning Chinese as a business accelerator." Sano said, "And where did you used to teach?"

"I worked in the city of Pattaya and the farming villages of Isaan." Jay answered. "I had to pause my teaching career for now, but it was quite rewarding. I really loved the students, and some of them were unforgettable." Jay related to her the good things that he was taking away with him, and keeping his mind away from drifting back to those things which he wanted to forget.

"Yes! The students can be amazing," returned Sano, "when they are not being little monsters!"

"Oh, you must have taught some of my students." He suggested and gave Sano a big smile. "Even when they are little monsters, they are still lovable, little monsters." Jay added, but thought to himself, Monsters? She couldn't possibly mean the blood-drinking, foul-smelling, demon types, could she?

"What did you teach, Ajarn?" she asked Jay, giving him a big natural smile, that made him stop breathing for a moment.

"American style English." he announced, "Not to be confused with European or Australian English."

"Is there a big difference?" She asked in a very neutral tone of English.

"Well the English that is spoken in England is the only proper English, since it comes from England after all." Jay joked, "And the Aussie English doesn't have room for anyone else, so it must be bloody amazing!" Sano laughed, having a little knowledge of Jay's sarcasm. "I am impressed with how well you speak," Jay said, "and by the fact that you get the jokes I was making."

"Thank you, Jay," She smiled again, causing Jay to loose one more breath again, and also causing him to check her left hand for a ring on a certain finger next to a pinky. There wasn't one there.

"I have been an English teacher for fifteen years, and I have worked with many fara...., foreigners, so, I have had the experience of hearing many accents and choosing what seemed to be at the heart of all of them. I would say I speak an easy, straight-forward, egoless, simple annunciation, without too much flair in any direction."

Jay returned a smile, with a questioning mind about this moment's possibilities, and directions. "Well, I am impressed, like I said," Jay said, "And I am sure that the students and the other teachers have been lucky to work with you. But I am curious," he paused, "You seem like a very interesting lady. Can I ask you, do you ever drink blood?"

"I like it cooked in Gwai tiaow soup." She said, "But no, I never drink it. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I am crazy I guess." Jay said, "I was wondering if you were Pee Doot Lewat.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Really!"

"You was wondering if I was Dracula, really?"

"No, not Dracula."

"Isn't that what Pee Doot Lewat is?"

"No, not really?"

"Then what is it?"

"Oh, never mind." She really doesn't know does she?

"Are you a Frankenstein?"

"What?"

"Just asking."

"No, not so much as you are Dracula."

She smiled at that comment and Jay smiled back, thinking that he would love to get to know someone with a smile like hers better. Who knows? Maybe she is my dream girl, my soul mate. Maybe I will build us a house in some remote village someday. You never know unless you try! Love at first sight? Everyone lives happily ever after?

"I hope you have a great trip Jay, wherever you are heading next."

"Thank you Sano, I hope you have a good conference in China."

"Well, hey Jay," Sano said and hesitated a moment looking shy. With a cute dimple in her cheek she asked Jay, "If you ever find your self back in Thailand and want to come to Laos..."

"Yes?" said Jay, feeling excited.

"If you are ever back in here, maybe you could give me a call sometime." She said and she pulled a pen and a scrap of paper out of her carry on bag and began to write down her phone number. Jay was very pleased with the way this conversation was heading.

"I'd love to!" he replied, feeling hopeful.

"I have an older sister in Bangkok that would love to meet someone like you!" Sano said looking encouraging.

"Oh." Jay said, feeling deflated.

Sano smiled and Jay and didn't say any thing for a moment. Jay tried to hide his disappointment and smiled back.

"I'm just kidding Jay! I would love to have you meet my family, and who knows...?" Sano said in a playful way.

"Wow, you had me going there." Jay said with a relieved look on his face. "My emotions just had a peak and a dip. Things can change pretty fast I guess."

"Everything's temporary!" Sano said, "Nothing stays the same for long, so you should just enjoy life!"

"No, it sure doesn't." said Jay. "And yes, I should!"

¤

That spark of innocence fleeing from Lamai's deceasing existence sought Pajau Yan for comfort. Pajau Yan was such a warm, emanating light, she was easy to find.

"Can I stay with you?" Lamai's essence asked?

"This is not the place for you." Pajau Yan related, "My task is to aid you in your passing."

"Have I passed?"

"Part of you has, but you to which I am communicating, you have not really had a chance to begin."

"Where can I go?"

"Let me have you commune with my friend." Said Pajau Yan, as she transported the, young, unsoiled, innocent essence of Lamai into the palm of Kwaan Yin, who kissed her and gave her unconditional love."

The End

maybe

###

I hope you enjoyed reading my tale. It was enjoyable to write and contains so many things that are relevant to my life. I am glad to share them with you and let you see the world through my eyes.

CONNECT WITH CHRISTIAN DAVIDSON

FRIEND ME ON FACEBOOK- <https://www.facebook.com/joe.tomko.568>

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Cover art by: Maxwell Coldsteel Cohen- http://www.projectpcrepair.net
ABOUT CHRISTIAN DAVIDSON

Joseph Tomko is writing under the name of Christian Davidson. He is from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Western Pennsylvania. His secondary education took him to Prescott College in the mountains of Arizona, where his love of nature was further engaged in the areas of Prescott, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. He has also attended Skyline College in California as well as the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

For the last four years, he has been living in Northeastern Thailand and Laos while exploring Southeast Asia. This has been the muse for his creative endeavors as of late. He has had a chance to experience some very interesting and unusual people and situations in this part of the world and has used those events to flavor his stories with ingredients that are not the usual meat and potatoes.

Christian Davidson is pursuing his writing passion by continuing his eclectic documentation of the interesting places that he travels. The insights of these observations are present in his fiction novels. It is difficult to choose a genre for his style of writing. While it is Science Fiction, it is also Inspirational, Spiritual, Cultural, Metaphysical, Musical, Horror and Religious in nature.

Besides being a writer, he has worked as a school teacher, a tattoo artist, a sign painter, an electrical contractor, a house mover, (literally picking up the house and moving it to a new location) a home builder, and a passive and photovoltaic solar designer and installer. He is an enthusiast of West African percussion and the folklore of people's spirituality. He has a lovely daughter who is engaging in language studies in New York, who is also a fantastic writer with novels to come.

~Christian Davidson
OTHER TITLES BY CHRISTIAN DAVIDSON

Christian Davidson's second novel, EMERGING, is almost complete and is undergoing final revisions and formatting. This book will be available soon for your engagement.

In the engaging Sci-Fi book, EMERGING _,_ the reader will be led on an inspiring, and futuristic journey through the life of a young, but powerful heroine. The year is 2073, in a world with rapidly changing borders and alliances, young Sabine, a poor but determined Cambodian girl struggles to stay alive in an oppressive women's slave-camp. This is where she learns to go deep inside herself, and know her own divine soul, enabling her to emerge with infinite power. This book EMERGING uses symbolism to represent the amazing power that is woman, and I believe it has great potential to engross readers in an epic tale that is both exciting and inspirational.

Sabine, sixteen years old and forced into growing up fast in a world with little sympathy, has learned mixed martial arts and Ninjutsu fighting styles to keep herself and her family alive. After a melee with brutal street thugs, she was taken in by a handsome, blue-eyed man who felt like the love of her life. Instead of breakfast in bed, she woke up tied down in a dark cell, while the whir of machines around her welcomed her to a forced-labor compound, a special hell just for women. Her captor's intent was to make her work as a high-priced sex toy, but she disabled her first male visitor in an attempt to flee the guarded facility. Sabine's attempts failed, both to escape the work camp, and to escape her addiction to powerful drugs. Yet in the oppressive confines of her dark reality, she met Kalianne, a skilled resistance fighter who helped Sabine rise from addiction and claim a unique power. Sabine invoked an ancient wisdom that enabled her to project a force large enough to defeat the twisted slave-camp leader, and a sinister magician, Kosal, who is bent on world domination. In her brief time on earth, Sabine got in touch with a tiny seed of truth within herself that grew to enormous proportions, and changed civilization in ways that the world's people had been hoping for.

Here is a sample from the upcoming book, EMERGING:

Sabine had no idea where she was but knew what she was leaving behind her. That was her only direction in life at that moment, swimming for her life in totally unknown waters. The heavy rain and the wind made swimming difficult because even though her head was above water, she would get a mouthful of it every time she tried to take a breath. She coughed and gasped as she forced her way away from the place she had just escaped, and her betrayer, Darayan.

She was feeling a hatred like she had never felt before. Her number one goal was to get away from Darayan, and her second goal was to hate him. She used this sheer anger to fuel her labored strokes in her drenched reality. If she let go of her anger for a second, the wet environment would match her tears. Anger was better than sorrow. Anger had energy. It had power. Sorrow had only collapse and weakness.

Lightning lit the skies above her but Sabine saw only gray, dark water all around her. She was growing tired from fighting the strong currents that were all around her. It seemed as if the water was moving on its own. She assumed she was in the middle of the lake, but didn't understand why there would be a current there. From what she knew of reservoirs, they were only flat water. She stopped paddling her arms for a second and began to tread water and try to get a sense of what was around her. The skies lit up again, and she was shocked to see a boat moving towards her. She thought she heard someone screaming her name.

Darayan yelled as loud as he could, "Sabine! Stop swimming! Let me help you!" Darayan saw Sabine treading water, floating about ten meters in front of the boat and right behind her was a buoy, marking the caution zone for the lakes huge, five meter drain hole. The lake had risen so fast during the storm already that the edge of the giant pipe was below the water's surface and the high water was pouring down it at a very forceful speed. Darayan had the boat driver cut the throttle and he fumbled to grab a life preserver float.

Sabine could see people moving around in the boat coming at her. She could barely make out the shape of the boat, but could see figures in it each time the sky lit up. The rain had grown even stronger and the thunder and lightning boasted the powerful fury of nature. As Sabine paddled to keep her head above water, she felt her body moving. There was definitely a current here, but why, she still wondered.

She knew she had to get away from this boat. They had surely spotted her and were coming to take her back. She would not let them take her back to that hell hole and that demon, Darayan. Sabine turned to swim away from the boat but she felt a rope brush against her chest. She grabbed a hold of the rope and pulled her body along it as it seemed to be in a fixed position in comparison to the moving water. She felt a cylindrical float that was attached to the rope and deduced that it was a buoy. The sky flashed again and she gasped as she saw the enormous black hole of water emptying into an abyss, lying in the direction she had been swimming. She could feel her body being sucked towards it so she grasped the rope tighter.

Darayan tied a rope to a plastic flotation ring and threw it toward the direction he last saw Sabine. "Grab a hold of the float!" He called out as he let the rope extend out, his hands feeding the rope out of the boat and towards his young slave. "Sabine! You are going to die if you get sucked into the overflow drain! Grab the ring! Now!"

The sky flared with lightning and Sabine saw what she imagined was Darayan standing up in the boat, waving to her. She was trapped. The giant drain behind her was pulling her in and the boat in front of her was there to pull her back to perdition. _I am at the end!_ She thought as her options had narrowed down to two things. Death by drowning or death by disgrace. A float ring bobbed into her face and she grabbed on to it tightly with one hand, maintaining a tight grip on the anchored rope attached to the buoy.

"Grab it now! I don't want to lose you!" Darayan screamed frantically as he waved his arms and pointed to the float. He could see Sabine was closer to the boat now. The driver kept the engine in reverse to hold the position against the drain current. "Sabine! I need you!" Darayan had only one objective, to get her in the boat and hold her tight. He did love her and he knew it now. He was so wrong in his ways. To sell her as a commodity was so wrong. What had he become? This girl was the most amazing creature he had ever met. He loved her. He needed her. He had to save her.

Sabine heard the voices a little clearer over the sound of the pouring rain beating against the lake surface and the rushing circular waterfall being pulled by gravity down a dark expansive hole. It was Darayan. Sabine did not want to die. She did not want to be a slave either. She was in the biggest dilemma of her life. None of her martial arts training could help her now. None of her stealth tactics, nor her mind control, could oppose this powerful force of nature. _There is nothing left for me._

Sabine thought of her father lying on a mat, wheezing and trying to breathe. She felt as fragile as this old man she loved. She saw her stern mother's face and just wanted her mom to hold her like an infant and cuddle her, giving her the love she craved from the hard woman. She saw Aom, begging for candy, and running away with it to eat by himself. Her family would miss her she thought. _What are they doing now?_

Darayan began to pull the slack of the line attached to the float because he could see that Sabine had an arm around it. He continued to yell with hope, "Sabine! Sabine! Hold on tight, and don't let go!" He felt like he could save her. He felt like he had a future with her. He imagined for a brief second the two of them running away and having a secret life together, away from the empire and soldiers and slavery. He wanted to save her more than anything else in the world he ever wanted. The rope got tight and he pulled it towards the boat. He could see Sabine had latched onto it and was allowing him to take control.

Sabine decided that her family was more important than her. If she drowned, she couldn't do anything for them. If she were a slave sex-worker, maybe she could make some money to send to them and give them a better life. Maybe she could live to escape another day. She decided to go with her lifeline, attached to the hands of the man that got her into this situation. It was better than certain death she supposed.

Sabine let go of the buoy tether and wrapped both of her arms around the floating plastic ring. Her arms, head and chest were out of the water and her torso and legs trailed behind her, still being pulled towards the sucking void. She felt the pull of the rope as the boat began a slow tug away from the danger zone around the lake drain. Sabine felt that she had surrendered. She was not in control of her destiny. The larger world around her was dictating her future. The man holding the rope, that was holding her life, was in control of her now. _Darayan. I did love him._ She melted into submission. The weight of resistance had left her. She relaxed in the calmness of giving up. It was bittersweet emotion.

Darayan pulled harder, knowing that they were pulling out of the strong current. _Sabine! I love you!_ He thought this as he held in his hands, a rope, connected to the most precious thing in life. She was an amazing girl who was already a woman, a woman he adored. He began to fill with a triumphant joy thinking that she would be in his arms in moments, in the safety of the boat. That was when he felt the weight of the rope go slack.

A shooting pain darted from Sabine's gunshot wound through her shoulder and she lost her grip on the slippery ring. Her body began to drift back toward the draining opening in the lake. She was still in the current of the suction and it gained power with each second. Sabine tried using her arms to paddle but her injured arm was excruciating. Having used it to fight, to force her way through a window, and to swim half way across a lake, had spent its ability to be functional. It ached tremendously and hindered her ability to use the rest of her limbs.

Sabine felt the tether rope of the buoy again and grabbed for it with her good arm. Her hand managed to wrap around it and she held on tight for her life, the rest of her body was parallel to the lake's surface as her feet were aimed towards the water hole pulling her in. Darayan was screaming to her as he pulled the float in so that he could toss it to her again. He ordered the boat driver to go forward, but the driver was insisting that it was too dangerous to go any further. Darayan cursed the man and struck at his body, demanding the boat move closer to Sabine.

Darayan pulled the float on board and grabbed it quickly. He launched it again and saw that it landed right in front of Sabine. "Grab it now!" He called, "I won't let you go!"

The float bumped into Sabine's face and she considered her options. If she let go of the rope she was clinging to, she might not be able to grab the ring before she would get sucked in. She felt powerless. She didn't seem to have any options any more. She was frightened, an emotion that she never let arise. _This is it! I either grab this float or plunge down a death drain. OK Darayan. I am putting it all in your hands._

Sabine let go of the tether line and swung her arm at the float by her shoulder as quickly as she could. She brought her hand down forcefully right into the middle of the floats center. Her elbow locked in a bent position as the float supported her small weight once again. Darayan felt the pull and began to gently husk her back towards him. He breathed again thinking that it would work this time.

Sabine held on with all of her might, hoping that she would be live another day. Darayan pulled and focused all of his will into his efforts. He would take her so far away from here, he thought. He commanded the driver to back up. The driver placed his hand on the throttle and began to pull it backwards, but his wet grip slipped and the throttle stick went back fully, causing the boat to accelerate at full bore. This movement caused Darayan to fall forward and tumble over the front rail of the boat. He grabbed the railing and hung on, his body hanging in the water. He turned his head to look towards the float. He could see the rope was flying out of the boat with no one supporting it.

Sabine felt the rope go slack and felt her body was moving in the current again, towards the powerful, downward, rushing water. There was nothing to grab hold of now, as she was past the tether line. She held on to the ring futilely. It was all she had to keep her head above water. Darayan, hanging over the side of the boat, let go of the railing with one hand and grabbed for the rope. He caught it with his first grab and clamped his fingers and palm around it. He felt the pull of the sliding rope burn into his skin but he did not let go. The rope grew tight as his grip secured.

Sabine felt the ring stop moving, but the current was too strong. It wrenched her body away from the stationary ring as her grip on it released. She was now being whisked away by the strong power of the current, with no recourse. In another second, she felt gravity pulling her down as she went over the edge of the drain pipe and began a downward plunge. The sky lit up with lightning as Darayan felt the rope go limp. He could see that Sabine was no longer attached to other end of the rope that he held with all of his rescuing intentions. He screamed at the sky but no one heard him over the deafening thunder that was addressing the world in a loud and asserting way. Sabine was gone.
GLOSSARY of DIETIES and TRANSLITERATED THAI/LAOS/ISAAN WORDS

ajarn- teacher

Apep- An evil god of the Egyptian religion, depicted as a snake, the deification of chaos and darkness.

athame- A ritual dagger

Baphomat- A goat-like god containing binary elements representing the sum total of the universe.

Bhat- The Thai unit currency (30 Bhat = 1 USD approx.)

ba- crazy

bia- beer

bpen- to be (am, is, are)

Chanaen- A waterfall in the Northeastern Isaan region of Thailand.

chokdee- good luck

chompoo- pink

dakai- lemon grass

dharmakaya- The unmanifest aspect of a Buddha from which Buddhas arise and return.

Erewhan- A Hindu deity, incorporated into the Thai culture, resembling Ganesha, and having three elephant heads.

falang/farang- foreigner (also, guava or ground guava which is a potato, perhaps referring to the white flesh of the fruit compared to the white skin of the foreigner. Also, perhaps a short version of the word Farangset, which is the Thai pronunciation of France or French. The French being the first foreigners ever met on the eastern part of Thailand during their occupation of Laos. I still dislike this word, because it is the generalized term given to every person who is not Asian, and I hear it many times a day when I am in Thailand.)

Ganesha- A Hindu deity, with the head of an elephant, the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences, deva of intellect and wisdom, and the lord of beginnings.

gin (gin khao)- eat (eat rice)

gwai tiaow- noodle soup

hia- slang. Asshole

hong- room

hong nam- bathroom (room- water)

Isaan- The northeast region of Thailand, culturally similar to Laos.

kaa- A polite ending used at the end of a sentence or phrase, for females to say.

Kali (Kalima)- A Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, time and change, destruction, death, and the consort of lord Shiva.

Karyn- The Bwa Ngaw hill tribe of Thailand, Laos and Burma, also known as Kariang or Yang.

katoi- A lady-boy, transgender or transvestite

khao- Rice

(si) khao- (color) white

Khip- The Laos unit of currency

khun- you

koowad- bottle

kon- person

kop khun (krub/kaa)- thank you

krai- who

krueng- half

krub/kawp/krup- A polite ending used at the end of a sentence or phrase, for males to say.

Kwaan Yin- The East Asian goddess of mercy and bodhisattva associated with compassion.

kwai- buffalo

laap- A spicy Thai salad made with chilies, lemongrass, garlic, lime and various meats.

Lao khao- whiskey white

leum- forget

Leo- A brand of beer common in Thailand, especially the Isaan region.

Luangpu Pupan- A Thai monk from the Northeastern region of Isaan, Thailand, who embodied mystical elements and presented them to Buddhists by changing images appearing on his skin. He lived in the isolated, natural, mountain temple of Wat Tum Soong, meaning temple high cave.

makseedah- The Laos word for foreigner (also guava)

Malkuth- The tenth sephiroth or sphere of consciousness on the Qabbalistic tree of life associated with the earthly plane and the number ten.

mamasan- The lady in charge of a bar or establishment that has escorts available.

Mekhong- A trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia which is the world's twelfth longest river at 4350 kilometers long, passing through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand Cambodia and Vietnam.

mer- mother

motorsai- motorcycle

Muang Budan- A name from the Isaan culture referring to the giant serpent living in the Mekhong River, also referred to as a naga or piyanah.

naga- Serpent deities in the Hindu and Buddhist religions. They are the embodiment of the essence and power of water, able to exist in any body of water.

nam- water

nam kaeng- ice (water hard)

Nuit- A goddess in Thelema, who is a naked woman covered with stars and comprises the universe.

Pajau Yan- The Vietnamese goddess of healing and good fortune, living in the moon. She provides the flowers of transition to the dead as they pass into the underworld.

payung- A type of tree, prized and now protected by law from illegal harvesting.

pee bom- zombie

pee doot lewat- vampire (ghost suck blood)

piyanah- A serpent deity in the Buddhist religion. They are the embodiment of the essence and power of water, able to exist in any body of water, especially in the Mekhong River.

pisset- special

plah- fish

plah daeg/plah rah- fermented fish sauce (Thai word/Isann-Laos word)

por- father

Pra (Pra Ajarn)- monk

prik- chili pepper

ruk- love

sabai dee- Thai- well content (content good) Laos\- hello

Salaween- The river flowing from the Tibetan Plateau to the Andaman Sea, passing through China Burma and Thailand, with a length of 2815 kilometers.

samahti- meditation

samsara- A continuous flow, repeating the cycle of birth, life and death, through reincarnation.

sangha- The community of religious people in the Buddhist religion.

sangsara- Another word for samsara, the continuous flow, repeating the cycle of birth, life and death, through reincarnation.

santee- peace

sawasdee- hello

soi- street

song taeow- A pickup truck with two rows of seats in the covered bed, used as public transportation.

songalee- A bar or establishment that has escorts available.

tee ruk- darling, sweetheart

tookayy- species of gecko

Tsalagi- Cherokee

tuk-tuk- a vehicle for public transportation. Various styles from modified motorcycles to short buses.

Veles- A Slavic supernatural force of earth, waters and the underworld, associated with serpents, dragons, cattle, magic, musicians, wealth and trickery.

wai/waied/waiing- The action of placing the hands in a praying position, in front of the chest, neck, face, or above the head (depending on the status of the person you are greeting) as a means of showing respect. A greeting similar to a wave or handshake.

widdershins- Moving is a motion counter sun-wise or counter clockwise, backwards direction.

yaba- A form of methamphetamine used in Southeast Asia. (Very bad! Do not try it!)

yai- big

037- The numbers you will see after tilting a Leo beer all the way upside down. Pronounced SOON SAWM JET.
LIST OF PROVINCES AND CITIES IN THAILAND AND LAOS FROM BLOOD SIAM

BURI RUM

CHIANG MAI

KHORAT (NAKHON RATCHISMA)

MAE HONG SON

MAE SARIANG

MAE SOT

MUKDAHAN

NAKHON PHANOM

PHUKET

SAKHON NAKHON

SAVANAKHET

SI SAKET

SOP PONG

SRIKHORAPHUM

SURIN

UBON RACHATANI

VIENTIANNE
