Night Prayers

Font
Arial
impact
roman
arial black
Verdana
Georgia
Palatino
times
 Font Color
black
brown
orange
silver
blue
green
teal
antiquewhite
red
yellow
white
 
Font Size
12
14
18
24
28
32
38
42
   
white
wheat
lightgrey
antiquewhite
teal
sienna
tan
beige
navajowhite
brown
light blue
burlywood
silver
gray
black

PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
EPILOGUE

To Timmy Valentine

"For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered."

Romans 9:36

"You said it would be different!"

Allison Garrett

"You said it would be different! You lied to me!"

Allison picked up the heavy glass ash-tray and hurled it at him. A wasted effort. She knew it would never touch him.

It didn't.

Seth caught it in mid-air and crushed it to a powder between his fingers. She watched it rain down over the side of the bed and into the motel's green-gold carpet.
Ashes to ashes… dust to dust
.

He chuckled, and Allison felt tiny shivers race up her spine.

It was the same honey-dripped baritone she'd heard over the din and "wanna screw" lines at the Country Western bar that'd become her home away from home once she realized being thirty-seven and single really
was
the pits.

But he'd noticed her — walked right past the perfect grins and perfect boobs and tight asses and offered to buy her champagne. Because, he said, it went with her sparkling personality.

And she bought it.

Was
still
buying it.

Allison slammed her naked rump into the wall next to the dresser and rode it down to the floor.

"You
did
lie," she mumbled, not ready to lose the fight yet… not yet. Not any earlier than she had to.

"Never did, pun'kin." he said softly. Easily. Allison heard the bed springs creak as he stretched. She began to claw furrows in the worn carpet. "Besides, what'd you think would be different?"

chuckle chuckle chuckle

"Everything," she snapped. "I thought
everything
would be different."

The springs accompanied him as he got off the bed. His perfect body glowed pale blue in the darkness, his erect penis still wet from their last bout of lovemaking.

Screwing
, Allison corrected.
Him screwER, me screwed
.

Period.

Seth smiled at her, his fangs gleaming, and shrugged.

"Life's what you make of it, darlin'," he said, "so I guess the same thing goes for death."

"Now's a great time to tell me," she whispered. "I just… I just thought I'd feel different, that's all."

"How can you feel anything, sweet thing? You're dead."

There were a hell of a lot of things they didn't tell her about this job when she signed on.

"It's not fair."

"Hey, babe, what made you think death would be any fairer than life was? It don't work that way."

Allison looked up and shot him the bird. He acted like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

"What? No one ever tell you to go fuck yourself before?"

Seth walked over and knelt in front of her. Allison felt the velvet soft tip of his cock press against her raised knee
— and moved.

"See? You felt that didn't you? Nothin's changed."

"That's right," Allison veiled. "Nothing's changed. NOTH-ING!"

Seth reached out and she slapped him away. His eyes flared red for an instant before cooling back to their pale grey-green.

"Now, don't be like that, sweet thing. More things have changed than you know. F'instance, you ain't gonna get any older… an' I thought that was one of the
biggies
on your list."

It was one of the things… one of the hundreds of things he'd wheedled out of her that first night in the bar over glasses of sparkling wine. He seemed so interested in her "as a person" that Allison dropped the facade she'd carefully cultivated and started pouring out thirty-seven years of unrequited dreams and never-ending disappointments.

And fears. About growing old. Alone.

About dying.

Alone.

And he held her hand and't'sked and said that he could do something about that. If she wanted.

If she wanted
: The perfect hook for a woman who'd begun counting the minutes on her biological clock.

Walking hand in hand back to his motel room, Allison had let herself imagine what it would be like to spend the rest of her life with the pale man with green eyes.

The rest of her life lasted three nights.

Allison felt another tingle crawl down her backbone.

"The word's
dead
," Seth said suddenly. "Well…
un
dead if you want to get technical."

"What are you talking about?"

"You an' me, kid. The undead." He leaned forward quickly and jammed his tongue into her mouth. Allison jerked away and tried to wipe the taste of raw sewage off her tongue.

"Aw, don't be like that, sweet lips. We got it made! Everything that's ever gonna happen to you has already happened, babe. Just remember, real feelin's for the livin'. When I did you I gave you
fer
-ever." He nuzzled her neck, suckled the shrunken puncture wounds above her jugular. "Now get on up here and show me how grateful you are."

Her ass squelched against the wall as Seth pulled her to her feet. He was less gentle than he'd been when she was still —

Allison pressed her lips together as Seth spread her legs apart and began dry-humping her against the cracked plaster. She didn't worry about what the occupants in the next room might think. It wasn't anything they hadn't heard before…

Over the last seventy-two hours…

Seth's fangs broke new ground as he worked himself in deeper. She'd whimpered the first time
— not from the bite or the size of his cock… but because it had been so God damned
cold
.

Like fucking a dead snake.

The
first
time.

Now they were both dead snake cold.

Allison yawned into her cupped hand and waited for him to finish.

"Hmmmm," he whispered less than a moment later, "that was nice."

"Thanks."

He kissed her on the cheek as he pulled out, then sank his teeth into her left breast.

For old time's sake.

"Yessir… you were one of the best I ever had."

High praise, no doubt. Allison sneered.

"Well, best be headin' out. Dawn ain't far away and there's still a great big of world out there, just full of hot-blooded, lonely women." Seth glanced at the pile of clothes laying at the foot of the rumpled bed and wrinkled his nose. An instant later he was dressed in a dark colored
Kentucky Headhunters
tee-shirt and jeans. Allison blinked and felt the carpeting come up and smack her on the butt.

Hard.

"How'd you…?"

"Well, babe, it's been fun," he said, winking at her. "Don't take no wooden stakes, now, y'hear." His chuckle had lost some of its endearing quality. "Get it… wooden
stakes
?"