Eve

 The Origin of Eve

1

Queens, New York 1983 Era Horrificus

Eva Aquino looked at the large house as she stepped out of the taxi, gripping her mother’s hand with excitement and a little apprehension.

“This where we’ll be living, sweetheart. Daddy and Uncle Tony will be here soon with the rest of our things. Go look around inside while I go into the kitchen and cook lunch. Your room is ready too, last door straight ahead when you get upstairs.”

Eva nodded her head silently and smiled widely. This was the American dream, she thought. The nursing recruiter was a Godsend coming over to the Philippines to get registered and licensed practical nurses to come work in area hospitals.

Eva and her parents had squeezed themselves into a tiny one bedroom apartment until they had saved enough to buy a house. Mommy made a more than decent wage at Jamaica Hospital while Daddy worked as a clerk for an art supply company in Manhattan. Their combined wages let afforded them the luxury of buying a home within the first two years in the States.

Benny and May, Eva’s parents were devout Catholics and named her after the mother of mankind, Eve. Eva was at times precocious, but acted a lot younger than her thirteen years.

Eva walked into the house and the newness of it intoxicated her. The walls were freshly painted and the floors were new hardwood, shiny and slippery. She stepped into the vestibule and into the living room. If anything was ever perfect, it would be this house she thought. She immediately ran up the stairs and straight into her room. She almost cried with joy as she opened the door to her room.

The walls were painted a light blue with white clouds, almost perfect renderings of the sky on a perfect day. She knew that her father possessed an artistic side, but she had only seen him do quick sketches meant to amuse, nothing of this magnitude. She sat on her new bed and laughed out loud, admiring her new room, her own room.

She heard the diesel engine of a truck beneath her window. Her father and Uncle Tony had pulled up in a rented to bring the rest of their furniture. Eva ran down the stairs.

As she walked outside, she saw her father and Uncle Tony standing outside the truck smoking cigarettes. She ran straight to her father and kissed him. She gave Uncle Tony a hug and kiss and ran back into the house and back into her room.

Benny watched Eva running and smiled. Tony took a long drag from his cigarette and laughed.

“Must’ve seen her room.” he said while opening the rear door of the truck.

May emerged from the house. She took Benny’s cigarette and smoked it, laughing as they started to struggle with taking the sofa out of the truck.

Across the street, Dominick “Dom” Marella looked out of his window to watch the new neighbors.

“Holy shit, fuckin’ gooks living right across from me. Motherfuckers!” he yelled at his closed window in vain.

He tightened the belt around his arm and injected the junk into his bloodstream, a habit that he picked up after two tours of Vietnam. Two combat tours that even his father, Don Vito Marella, could not get him out of. He hated his father for that.

2

At 11:30 that night, Dom walked the perimeter of the Aquino house and found the kitchen window in the backyard unlocked. He removed the .38 from his waistband and slithered through the window and over the sink onto the floor. He tucked the revolver back into his waistband and rummaged through the drawers and cupboards. He found Benny’s toolbox and grabbed the duct tape. He then took off his sneakers, crept through the living room and then up the stairs.

He immediately looked to his left and saw a light coming from underneath the door in Benny and May’s bedroom. Tony smiled, walked up to the door and opened it.

May saw Dom first and screamed. He pointed the .38 at both of them and put his right forefinger to his lips. May complied and began to cry.

“What do you want? Please don’t hurt my family. You want money? I’ll give you money!” Benny pleaded with Dom.

“You got kids? How old?” Dom asked.

“A boy.” Benny lied. “He’s 4-years-old.”

“Okay. This is what I want you to do.” Dom was looking at May. “Take this and tape his arms behind him and his feet together and then his mouth. Do it!’

May looked at Benny and Benny nodded his head. Benny turned over to his side as May made her way to Dom and grabbed the tape. She began to cry as she taped Benny’s hands and feet while Tony pointed the gun at her.

Outside the door that was left ajar, Eva silently looked on and sobbed silently with fear as May taped Benny’s mouth.

“Lay on your stomach!” Dom barked at Benny.

Beeny rolled on to his stomach as Dom began to tape May’s hands behind her back and then taped her mouth. He threw May on top of Benny and began to mount her. Benny and May began to scream muffled cries as Dom removed May’s panties and entered her. Dom ravaged May again and again, his excitement building with the sound of Benny and May’s muffled protests. He came inside of her and lay on her for thirty seconds as both May and Benny began crying.

Dom was panting hard. He smiled. “That’s what you gooks get.”

Eva began to cry and crept back to her room slowly. She slid under her bed and put both palms to her mouth to quiet her cries.

Then she heard two gunshots.

Eva began to whimper almost uncontrollably as Dom walked out of the master bedroom and down the stairs. She ran to her parents’ bedroom and almost screamed.

Dom had ransacked the rest of the kitchen. He sat down and made a sandwich. After finishing, he then walked out the front door, crossed the street and into his father’s house. He went to his room, got high, and nodded off.

3

Vito kicked opened the door of his son’s room and turned the light on. Dom was in bed with his clothes still on and a syringe still hanging from his arm. He immediately went to the top drawer of Dom’s dresser and there it was: Dom’s .38, stinking of the fumes from use.

He walked over to Dom and slapped him in the face with all his might.

“What the fu…?”

Vito slapped him again, hurting his own hand.

“Papa, stop! What are you doing?” Dom cried.

“You fuckin’ scumbag!” Vito growled. He grabbed Dom and flung to the floor. He grabbed Tony and dragged him to the window.

“What the fuck did you do, you motherfucker? what the fuck did you do?”

Several police cruisers and an ambulance were across the street now. A uniformed cop was on the lawn hugging Eva.

“Ah, c’mon Papa. They’re fuckin’ gooks. Look what they did to me!” Dom whined.

Vito then grabbed Dom by the throat and began to throttle him. Dom was sinking to the floor now as Vito was straddling him.

“You motherfucker. Nobody did shit to you! You got hooked on smack on your own and you blame the ‘Nam and everybody else ’cause you’re a fuckin’ junkie! You probably sucked some drug dealing jigaboo off when you didn’t have any money, right?!? You worthless piece of shit. I used to be proud of you. I told everybody that my son’s a fuckin’ Marine. My son was in combat. Now what the fuck are you? A murdering fuckin’ junkie!”

Just then, four uniformed cops burst into Dom’s room and pried Vito off Dom. They slapped handcuffs on the semi-conscious Dom and dragged him down the stairs. A detective walked in as Vito got to his feet sobbing.

“Don Vito, I’m sorry. There’s just too much evidence and an eyewitness. He raped the mother and then killed them both. Dom’s fingerprints are all over the place!”

“Just take that motherfucker.” Vito said. “He needs to fuckin’ rot.”

Just then, Valerie Marella ran into the room screaming. The detective got up and walked out.

“Don’t let them take my baby! Do something!”

“I did all that we could! The motherfucker raped the lady and then shot her and her husband! Then he comes back here like nothing and gets high! What the fuck do you want me to do?”

“He needs help! He was in the war!” Michelle cried.

“That was eight years ago! He needs to get his life together for Christ’s sake! He just raped an innocent lady and killed her and her fuckin’ husband!”

“Yeah, like you never killed anybody!”

Vito grabbed Michelle by the shoulders and shook her.

“Never talk about my business again! You got a problem on how I make my money? You never had a problem spending it, though! I never killed nobody that didn’t have it coming! As God is my witness, I never killed nobody that didn’t have it coming! I never raped nobody either! That’s your fuckin’ son! You hear me? Our fuckin’ boy did that shit!”

Michelle buried her head into Vito’s shoulder.

“Don’t you know somebody? Please don’t let him go to prison! Remember how helpless he was when you held him for the first time after my Caesarian?”

Vito began to cry himself.

“He fucked up. He went way beyond fucking up. Only because I love you, I’ll talk to somebody.”

4

Queens County Courthouse, 1984 eh.

“You have acted with evil intent Mr. Marella.” Judge White looked at Tony from behind the bench. “I have also taken into consideration your military service and the psychological trauma that comes with being in combat. You will be placed under the care of  Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital indefinitely. Case dismissed.”

Dom hugged Vito’s attorney.

“Get the fuck off of him, stupid fuck!” Vito yelled at Dom.

“This is fuckin’ bullshit!” Tony yelled at Judge White. He charged from the seats at the bench. “You’re a fuckin’ asshole!”

Six bailiffs then tackled Tony and piled on top of him.

Miriam, Tony’s wife, began crying and grabbed Eva and hugged her close.

The bailiffs lifted cuffed Tony to his feet. He spit in the direction of the bench as White pounded his gavel, calling for order.

“His father paid you! His father paid you! You dirty fuck!” Tony screamed as the bailiffs took him through the side door.

Dom turned and smiled at Eva. Eva looked away. The bailiffs placed handcuffs on Dom and took him through another door opposite from where Tony was taken.

5

Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital.

“That new guy was in ‘Nam too.” Jeff said to Claudio as they spotted Dom on the opposite end on the sidelines watching the other resident patients play pick-up basketball at the outdoor court.

Claudio spat on the ground and lit a cigarette. “What of it? He’s a junkie rapist. I know his father, he’s a man of honor. I worked for him, he never did anything to those that didn’t deserve it. His son is a sociopath.”

Jeff looked at Claudio quizzically. “What about beyond good and evil? What of that?”

Claudio looked at Jeff with disgust. “You can’t tell the difference between the Sinister Way and sociopathy after all we’ve talked about? You are more inept than I thought. You’ve wasted enough of my time.”

Claudio walked away. He smiled to himself and walked over to Dom.

“Hey, you were in the ‘Nam?” Claudio smiled.

Dom’s face lit up. “Yes. Marine Corps.,  Khe Sanh 1968.”

“Army, Da Nang 1965. Welcome home, brother.” Claudio hid his disgust well.

Dom began to cry. “They got me here for killing gooks in my neighborhood, ya know? I defended my country, then I defended my block. What a slap in the face.”

You should be at Rikers Island getting fucked in the ass by guys who hate rapists, Claudio thought. Then he smiled at the irony of his last thought.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t the worst place in the world.”

Dom smiled, thinking that Claudio’s smile was a genuine and amicable one. “I’m Dom. Dom Marella.”

Claudio wanted to spit on Dom’s hand but reluctantly shook it, still smiling. “Claudio Giovanni.”

“You’re Italian! Paisan!” Dom screamed.

“Yeah, paisan.” Claudio was wincing in disgust but tried to hide it by smiling again.

“What the fuck are you in here for?”

“They say that I’m a cult leader even though I am merely a philosopher.”

“Yeah. Fuck the system man.”

“Yes, fuck the system indeed.” Claudio said flatky. “I must go now, friend.”

“Okay. Yeah. Nice meetin’ ya.” Dom smiled.

“Rest assured, the pleasure was mine.” Claudio replied. He walked past the basketball game.

He went to the first restroom he came across and washed his hands for almost a minute and a half. 

“Homo hubris.”

6

Brooklyn, 1987.

“You fuckin’ pussy!” Eva yelled. “How the fuck are those bitches gonna jump me again and you don’t do shit? You say that you’re my boyfriend, but then you don’t have my back! What the fuck is that?”

Carlos looked at her angrily. “I ain’t no pussy, watch your mouth, bitch! If I get into trouble again, they’ll kick me out the group home! Yo, they’ll put me in Spofford!”

“Those bitches didn’t worry about shit when they did what they did. You’re the only one that’s worried.”

“Yo, stop the bullshit! How you gonna talk to yo man like that?”

“Because I’m pregnant asshole! And you don’t do shit to protect me or the baby!”

“What? Pregnant? Yo, how I know it’s mine?”

“Fuck you, punk motherfucker!”

Eva began to run down the block. Carlos just stood there watching. Eva turned the corner and looked back to see if he was following. When she saw that he wasn’t, she leaned on a mailbox and began to cry.

“Fuck. I’m fuckin’ sick of crying.”

She then kept on walking aimlessly, away from the group home. She then came upon the Bushwick Avenue train station and walked down the stairs.

6

Manhattan, 1989 eh.

Eva shook with fear as the candy apple red Monte Carlo turned the corner. The vehicle approached her slowly and the tinted window on the drivers side rolled down. The black man wearing sunglasses at 3:30 am in the morning looked at her inquisitively.

“How’s business?” Bona Fide asked his girl.

“I’m sorry Daddy.” Eva replied. “No one’s partying tonight.”

“Bitch, you sure are sorry. Get in the motherfuckin’ car now!”

Eva obediently ran as fast as she could in her four inch heels to the passenger side of the car and got in.

“Daddy, five-oh is out tonight. The spot is hot. I kept having to walk away and come back.”

Bona Fide drove off slowly, turned the corner and parked. Then he reached across and slapped Eva in the mouth with the back of his hand. Eva bent over in the seat in pain and shock. Bona Fide inched closer to her face. Eva stayed prone.

“Don’t Daddy give you a home with sisters in it? Huh? How come they give me money? Don’t Daddy protect you from these streets? Huh? This is how you pay Daddy back? Huh?”

Bona Fide smiled and unzipped his pants.

“Since you’re down there, bitch.” Bona Fide grabbed the back of Eva’s head and pulled it towards his lap.

Claudio watched with disgust as Eva’s head was going up and down on the pimp’s lap. Patience, he said to himself. Patience.

Five minutes later, Eva was pushed out of the car. Bona Fide drove off, tires screeching as Claude ran to Eva.

Eva got up and straightened her skirt. She saw Claudio running towards her and froze. Nervously she smiled at him.

“Wanna party with me?”

“Yes. Let’s take a walk, Eva.”

Eva looked at Claudio incredulously.

“How did…”

“Get behind me!” shouted Claudio as the red Monte Carlo turned the corner.

The car rolled along slowly and then drove off.

“Listen, come with me. I’ll protect you. Not his kind of protection. Trust me.”

“Why are you doing this?” Eva asked bluntly.

Claudio sighed. “We’ll talk about this later. I promise.”

Eva looked Claudio over. She found him attractive but a Dark look in his eyes told her that something wasn’t “right.”  as if Darkness emanated from his Being.

“Okay. Okay.” Eva felt a strange solace in the company of Claudio.

Just then, Bona Fide walked up behind them. He looked at Claudio, thinking that he was a potential customer, smiled and nodded at him. Claudio nodded back and Bona Fide kept walking.

“Walk the other way…quickly!” Claudio hoarsely whispered to Eva. She did so and Claudio began to run towards Bona Fide, pulling the icepick from his jacket at the same time. He grabbed Bona Fide from behind, wrapping his left arm around the pimp’s throat. He then skillfully plunged the icepick into Bona Fide’s chest repeatedly until Bona Fide collapsed. Bona Fide’s face was a look of surprise and pain as his life was ending.

Claudio quickly went through Bona Fide’s pants pockets and retrieved car keys and $200 in 20’s, not bothering with the .38 tucked in Bona Fide’s waistband. He then ran in the opposite direction and turned the corner towards Eva. As he pulled up to within fifteen feet of her, he yelled out.

“Eva, get in the car!”

He pointed across the deserted street and they ran inside the car. Claudio drove slowly as to not make any screeching noises that would attract attention. He then went towards the FDR Drive.

“Where are we going?” Eva asked.

“Upstate.”

Eva smiled at the prospect. “Never been there.”

7

One week later after first meeting Claudio, Eva found herself squeezing a dead snake until enough blood came from its wound to fill almost half the chalice. She then burned the paper on which she had written her name in blood, her motto, and the Symbol of Saturn over a candle and mixed the ashes with the blood in the chalice.

“Satan, may your blood mingle with mine as my blood now mingles with fire.”

She picked up the chalice and held it to the East.

“With this drink I seal my oath. I am yours and shall do works to the glory of your name.” Then she drank heartily disregarding the strange taste. Her mind was filled with vengeance.

She put on her unremarkable new clothes, buried the snake, the rosary that her parents gave to her and a tetrahedron crystal.

She walked towards the cabin. Claudio sat on a chair in the living room. He got up as soon as Eva entered. He approached her and then put his arms around her.

“Now you chose to live your life in a new way.” he whispered in her ear.

She buried her face in his chest and felt comfort.

“No one else matters. Outsiders exist only for our use and our profit. Eve, from you a Sinister Tribe is born.”

They walked outside and sat at the picnic table in the back of the cabin.

“How would I go about in doing that?” Eva/Eve asked.

“That is where we would have to be resourceful, my dear.”

Eve smiled at the prospect of seemingly starting her life anew. Claudio had told her that he was mostly a “freelancer” who had been employed by numerous organizations, Italian and Asian, wherever the money was. He also practiced a perspective of Satanism he learned from someone in California as a recluse and wanted to commence a Sinister Tribe with which would look to usurp the current system, to disrupt, to evolve.

“It might be my former profane beliefs, but when I read about what had happened in the paper, your name resonated with me. As if you were the key to it all.”

8

Queens, NY 1990 eh.

The house still looked the same to Dominick. He stood there with his bags, apprehensive about going in. Vito had told him that he had better be clean if he wanted to live there again.

Dominick looked across the street. It looked as if someone else had moved into the old Aquino house. There was even new siding on the house.

Dom put his bags at the doorstep and decided against going to the house just yet. He wanted to get a drink.

He started down the block when he saw his old “friend,” Peter Raspotnik sitting in front of his house. Peter had regularly sold to Dom before he went away to the hospital. Peter had always been overweight but years later, he looked to be obese and could barely walk.

“Hey!” Peter exclaimed when he saw Dom. “Long time no see! It’s been like what, five years? I didn’t know that they could keep you that long in Creedmoor.”

Dom cringed as he shook Peter’s hand.

“Wanna hit, Dom?” Peter smiled. “For old times sake?”

“No thanks. I have to stay clean. I just got out, man.”

“Exactly. You just got out. You gotta get high.” Pete smiled through brown teeth.

Dom stood there and looked at Pete. “I’m broke anyway.”

“You just got out! This one’s on me. What’ya say?”

“Um, okay. Just one hit and I’m telling you Pete, that’s it. I just got out and I’m broke.”

“C’mon, let’s go to my room. Just don’t make too much noise.”

Dom felt apprehensive about hitting the needle again but the thought of getting high again after all he has been through was comforting.

“Okay, Pete.” Dom smiled. “Let’s go.”

9

 Claudio and Eve had been renting the one bedroom flat in Chinatown for six months and knew the neighborhood and more importantly, who ran it.

They were on the rooftop of their five-story walk-up smoking cigarettes and “casing” the neighborhood.

“That’s the Tong. Boss Chin” Claudio said as they watched a fat, Chinese man in a tan suit going in and out of the stores on the block.

“Why doesn’t he have his muscle pick up the money?”

“He wants to show himself as the strong arm. That he has a “personal relationship” with the shopkeepers. That’s going to be his fatal mistake. Everyone hates him because the rates for his “protection” increases every month and for his boorish behavior as well.”

“He’s heading home.” Eve observed.

Boss Chin walked into his walk-up and looked back briefly as if he sensed being watched. Then he went inside.

“Not too much wine tonight, Eve.” Claudio said. “We’ll hit him tomorrow.”

Eve smiled. “I wasn’t going to drink tonight anyway.”

10

“You’re getting skinny again. You getting high again?!?” Vito demanded as Dom, Valerie and him were sitting in the dining room having dinner.

“No way Papa. I’ve done my time.” lied Dom.

“Honey, why don’t you believe your own son?” Valerie asked.

“I don’t trust addicts. You should check on your jewelry.”

“Excuse me.” Valerie left the table not out of anger, because Vito had been right. She had noticed the more expensive pieces of her jewelry missing but was afraid to tell Vito.

“If I find out you’re doing smack again, out you go.” Vito warned Dom.

“Papa.” Dom smiled nervously. “I’m not. I’m just trying to settle in and figure things out.”

Vito got up from the table. He went out into the backyard. he looked longingly at the stars and began to weep.

Dom went out the front door and walked quickly to Pete’s house, looking back to make sure that Vito wouldn’t appear and see where Dom was going.

Vito sat on a lawn chair and lit a cigarette. He cursed God, Valerie, Dominick and Vietnam almost all in the same breath.

11

Eve watched from Boss Chin’s rooftop nervously. The streets were crowded with people celebrating an occasion that she wasn’t familiar with. The parade was in full swing with dragons and firecrackers. She watched as Boss Chin walked around and people were greeting him with respect, bowing to him. Claudio had said that the smiles and the respect were contrived. People did it out of fear, without the respect.

She watched as Boss Chin entered the building. She silently counted to three and then walked quickly down the stairs leading to Chan’s apartment.

Chin whistled as he walked up the stairs and looked at Eve as she stood in front of his doorway smiling. She was wearing a short skirt with high heels.

As he stood watching, Eve pulled out the .22 and pointed it at him. As he raised his hands in panic, firecrackers were going off outside. Eve began firing on Chin, obscuring the gunfire with the fireworks.

Chin fell back and rolled down the steps onto the landing. His eyes were open and his face rendered a look of surprise and panic.

Eve ran back to the rooftop, took her shoes off and jumped on to the rooftop of the adjacent building. She then put her shoes back on and walked down the stairs casually. She then took her panties off, wiped the gun clean, opened a door in the hallway and tossed the gun down the garbage chute. 

Five minutes later, Claudio watched from the apartment window as sirens from an ambulances and two squad cars were heard coming from around the corner about twenty minutes later. He saw as Eva was walking around nonchalantly in the street, taking in the sights and sounds of the parade.

Claudio laughed to himself and then took a bottle of red wine from the refrigerator.

12

Dom sat in the familiar spot on the couch in the Raspotnik basement again. Peter’s mother had sent him on an errand to the drugstore so Peter told Dom to just relax until he got back.

Peter came down the stairs and smiled at Dom.

“Hey Pete.” Dom said nervously. “Um, could you kind of help me out? I don’t have any money today.”

“Well, I don’t know.” said Peter almost whimsically.

Dom began to perspire now. “Listen, I gave you so much money yesterday and all of last week! I sold practically all of my mother’s jewelry! C’mon! Can’t you just hook me up?”

Peter walked towards where Dom was sitting. He stood in front of Dom and unbuckled his pants. Dom began to cry.

“Listen, I don’t like it any better than you ’cause I ain’t no homo or nothin’.” Peter said in a most serious tone. “It’s general principle. It’s business. If I start giving away the stuff, I’ll lose out and go out of business. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“No.” Dom sniffled. “He looked up and saw that Peter was erect and only inches from his face.

“Okay then. It’s just business. After this, you’ll be getting high and you’ll forget all about it C’mon. Put your mouth on it.”

Dom opened his mouth and hesitated. Peter grabbed the back of Dom’s head and shoved his penis in Dom’s mouth. Dom gagged as Peter pushed his head back and forth.

“You’ll forget all about it in a little while.” Peter sighed. “This doesn’t make you gay. It’s business.”

Tears began to stream from Dom’s face.

13

Eve and Claudio had been sitting in the small Chinese restaurant almost directly across the street from the late Boss Chin’s flat. An older Chinese man eyed them as he walked in. He approached them and bowed humbly.

“Please, forgive my intrusion.”

Eve looked at him curiously.

“Yes?”

“My name is Yao Chung. I heard that you are a person of influence. I would like to ask a favor and I will be eternally in debt to you.”

“Go on.” Eve stated authoritatively.

“It’s my landlord. He wants to increase my rent from $500 to $550 and I can’t afford it.”

“Why don’t you just move?”

“All the apartments are already over $600! I hear that he wants his mistress to live in my place when he forces us out! I have three kids! They’re 5, 7, and 10! I don’t know what to do.” Yao pressed his palm to his face. “Please, please help me.”

Claudio nodded his head to Eve when Yao wasn’t looking.

“I’ll see what I can do. What’s the landlord’s name?”

“Pei Kang. He owns the dry cleaners too.”

“Okay.”

Yao smiled. “Thank you Miss. Thank you.” he bowed continuously and walked out of the restaurant.

Claudio smiled. “Word gets out fast. This is power, Eve.”

Eve did in fact feel empowered. “I’ll go talk to Pei Kang.” she said confidently.

14

Dom went home feeling the effects of the high, but it still could not obscure his shame. He came home and Vito was sitting on the couch waiting for him. He had the news on but wasn’t paying attention.

“You still looking for work?” Vito demanded. “You’ve been home for almost a month. Your mother’s jewelry goes missing and you keep leaving the house and coming back looking like shit.”

Dom looked down on the ground. Damn it. Not now, he thought.

Vito got up and walked over to him. “You’re still that lousy piece of shit that got sent to the institution 5 years ago, you little motherfucker! After what you did to that family, you’re still a fuck up.” Vito grabbed Dom and shook him.

Dom didn’t have the strength to even struggle.

Valerie ran down the stairs. “Vito, please!”

“We’ve been protecting Dom all his life! He’s never gonna amount to anything!” Vito shouted at Valerie.

Dominick turned around and walked out the door. Vito stepped forward as if to go after Dom but thought better of it.

Valerie went to run after Dom but Vito held her back.

“Let him go.” he said quietly. “He has to figure this out. We can’t protect him forever.”

Dom walked down the street and didn’t want to think about heroin. He kept walking until he reached Bell Boulevard and the bar, “First Edition.” It was time to forget about tonight. He could get free drinks here because they knew Vito. Vito had power. Power that Dom would never have. Having been exploited for a hit tonight proved that.

15

The next morning, Eve stepped into the dry cleaners without Claudio. She addressed the middle aged balding man behind the counter.

“I’m looking for Pei Kang.” she smiled.

The man smiled cordially. “Yes? I’m Pei Kang.”

“I wanted to talk about my uncle. Yao Chang?”

Pei’s smile turned into a stoic expression. “I’m sorry. I have to evict your uncle. He can’t pay my rent increase.”

“I understand that the economic times may call for you to have to raise his rent. How about $525?” Eve still smiled.

“No! If I raise his rent to only $525, then I have to do that for everybody else!” No! Your uncle leaves by the end of the month.”

Eve felt disrespect but remained calm. “Surely, can’t we talk about this like adults?”

“No! If he stays, I go broke. Get out!”

Eve bowed and left. She pondered what to do now. “Some fuckin’ power.” she thought to herself.

She walked back to the apartment. When she walked in, Claudio was absorbed in a book. She told Claudio what had happened with Pei Kang.

Claudio laughed. “He doesn’t know yet of your ‘glamour.’ You saw how our friend Yao approached you.”

“Yeah, but he needed a favor. He’s going to kiss a little ass.”

“But…” Claudio smiled. “why would he ask you if he didn’t think you had the means?”

“But I don’t.”

“What do you call the Boss Chin hit, then? He’s been running this town for fifteen years! There is still no retribution for the hit.”

“The Chinese are different from the Italians. They’re not going to proclaim blood on the streets on a P.A. system. They’re taking their time with this one.”

“Not really. Just wait and see, Eve.”

16

Eve and Claudio were drinking coffee at the same restaurant when Pei Kang approached them. He bowed to them as humbly as Yao did the day before.

“I made a big mistake! I humbly apologize! I did not know that you…Ah! What am I saying? Please! I’m so sorry for your uncle! His rent stays the same!”

“No.” Eve smiled at Pei. “He’ll pay you $400 a month.”

“What?” Pei said incredulously. “Okay, okay. Sorry! Yes. $400! Yes, no problem!” Pei bowed.

Eve made a hand gesture as if she was shooing a fly. Pei turned around and immediately walked out of the restaurant.

Claudio and Eve laughed. “Shit. It’s only the two of us. We’re going to need people. We’re not going to be able to survive on this ‘glamour’ alone.”

“We’ll find some viable candidates. There’s people out there who need jobs. The Republicans are in office.”

Outside, a commotion was going on. A crowd gathered to see two young men fighting on the sidewalk.

“Hmm, interesting.” Eve said as she got up to walk out the door.

Claudio smiled and followed.

Two men in their late teens-early twenties were throwing punches and kicks at each other and blocking rather well. They seemed to be almost even until the one with the longer hair attacked the other aggressively until finally taking the other man down. As the one with the long hair straddled the other and was about to throw one last punch when Eve came over and grabbed his arm.

The man at first looked angrily at Eve and then smiled when he saw her smiling at her.

“What’s your name?” Eve asked.

“Johnny. Johnny Lam.”

“We need to talk, Johnny.”

Johnny was instantly enamored with Eve. As he got up to walk away, his opponent rolled over and kicked himself up. He ran towards Johnny and Eve.

Johnny heard him coming at the last minute and assumed a defensive stance. Eve got between them.

“Know what?” smiled Eve. “I think I need you too. What’s your name?”

“Eddie Tsao.” the other man replied.

“Why are you two fighting?”

“He owes me $50.”

Johnny laughed. “You still owe me $100 from last month.”

Eve laughed. “Let’s take a walk you guys.”

Claudio smiled in the background.

17

Within a month’s time, Eve had assembled a group of sixteen young men and women into her Sinister Tribe. Little more time had passed and all of them were Initiated.

On the street, the new crew was known as the “Sinister Shadows” because their operations were performed covertly and with stealth.

The two main rivals to the SS were the Jung Dragons and Guangdong Tigers. In fact, various members of both factions had defected to the SS. 

Eve and Claudio called a secret meeting with the two faction leaders, Danny Wu of the Tigers and Bobby Feng of the Dragons at a local bar.

Eve nodded to Claudio and he explained the SS perspective of the Septenary Way. Bobby and Danny came away impressed and agreed to hold a mass meeting the same night with all three Tribes for Eve to announce the merger.

Word of the meeting was the hot topic among the Jung Dragons and the Guangdong Tigers. Danny and Bobby had spread word that Eve is the one.

The baseball field was filled with the two factions of almost fifty people. The SS stood behind Eve loyally. She smiled at the crowd and held the microphone to her lips.

“Let’s talk money because we all know that’s why we’re here. The Tongs who own your asses are getting wealthy off of your sweat. Your blood. They sit in these fancy restaurants with expensive call girls buying out the bar and eating filet mignon while you’re putting in the work. Doesn’t that sound like a regular, mundane job to you? You’re outlaws! Where’s the exultation of life? You’re slaving for somebody else just like the poor slob who drags himself to the train or bus every morning with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Mundane, isn’t it? Only difference is that you don’t get health care and a pension. They get all their wealth from the streets, but you know what? You are the streets! Nothing happens on the streets unless we say it happens. No deals, nothing moves. Because we’re not fighting for turf anymore….because it’s all…our…turf!”

The crowd became raucous and cheered. Eve paused for dramatic effect.

“Your own Brothers and Sisters came over to SS because they wanted a better life. They put aside petty differences for the sake of Progression. We all have the power to alter our own realities. As a Tribe. A Family. The powers that be embedded it in your mind that you must be individuals. What society can progress as a bunch of individuals? It’s that mentality that made us into rivals rather than Brothers and Sisters. Together, whose gonna run this town tonight?!?”

The crowd cheered and Eve stepped off the bleachers.

A Sinister Tribe had been born from Eve.

18

Vito had not seen Claudio in close to six or seven years. In most circles, Claudio was seen as a gun for hire, a mercenary not to be trusted. Yet Vito had always liked Claudio and kept tabs on him periodically.

“I heard you running the chinks downtown, old friend.” Vito smiled as he looked at the stripper on the tiny stage gyrating to dance music as dollar bills were being tossed in her direction.

Claudio held up a five and the woman smiled and approached him. She put the bill in her thong bikini and bent over for Claudio.

“We work together. We’re associates.”

“You’re talking about street urchins. C’mon!”

“What can I do for you, Don Vito?” Claudio asked seriously.

Vito smiled. “You’re too fuckin’ proper to be Italian, you know that? You sound like a fuckin’ poem. Anyway, you still do freelance work?”

Claudio smiled. “What do you have in mind, Don Vito?”

“This fucker, Peter Raspotnik who’s been selling smack to my kid for almost ten fuckin’ years. I’m sick of paying for that fat fuck’s meals. I want him gone.”

“That’s not a problem. But won’t your kid just look for someone else to buy from? Isn’t Raspotnik connected? Not that I care anyway.”

“Listen, I’ll worry about that. Ten thousand?”

“Fifteen. Gas and expenses not included.”

Don Vito smiled. “I’ll give you seventeen.”

“Done.” Claudio smiled. He got up to leave.

“Hey, you didn’t even ask where you can find him.”

“Knowing that fat bastard, he’ll probably be in his mother’s basement or that pub you got.” Too easy, Claudio thought to himself.

Vito got up and hugged his old “friend.” Nobody makes his son suck dick for a hit. Nobody.

19

Eve and Claudio looked on with disgust into the alleyway of “First Edition” as they saw Dom, with his back turned to them, on his knees and Pete standing over him grabbing Dom’s head.

“Soon as I take out Pete, you know what to do.”

“Fuck yeah.” Eve said.

They ran in silence towards the “lovers.” Eve pulled Dom off of Pete and straddled him, punching Dom in the face. Claudio plunged the icepick into Pete’s chest and stomach with speed and brutality. Pete crumpled to the ground.

Claudio went over to where a semi-conscious Dom was laying and rolled  his sleeve up.

“Remember me, paisan?”

“Why are you doing this?” Dom looked up at Eve and then to Claudio. “Why?”

“This is for my parents.” Eve said calmly. She plunged the syringe of uncut smack into Dom’s exposed arm.

“No! Wait! Please!” Dom pleaded.

The heroin was fast. Dom began to vomit and went into convulsions. Eve jumped off of him quickly. Then, Dom stopped moving. 

Gemulah.