Night Prayers (16 page)

"I hope you're feeling better now, Allison," he said. "And I hope I didn't say anything to offend you just now. You know… about blessing
—"

"Preacher-boy!" Gypsy's face and body suddenly eclipsed Mica's line of sight. "What the fuck am I going to
do
with you?"

Gypsy smiled.

Mica had seen the smile before. Usually it came right after Gypsy asked obnoxious drunks if they wouldn't mind joining him outside for a little air. He'd always come back smiling that particular smile. And rubbing the knuckles on his right hand.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. Honest." Mica stood on tip-toes and nodded to the women. "Sorry."

"Oh, shoot," Luci said, running an arm over Gypsy's shoulders, "I've been blessed by worse. Hey, Alley-cat, why don't you come on over here and sit a spell with the Preacher-boy? Get to know each other a little better while I go over and chat up our dinner guests. I'll call you when we're ready to start."

Luci's sudden smile flashed as bright as her white dress. "And I don't think you have to worry. Looks like the boy's already off loaded once tonight. You should be safe enough."

Mica wondered what the hell she was talking about until he followed her gaze
— down to the front of his pants.

"N-no… that's beer." He sidestepped back into the booth quickly and crossed his legs, barely wincing when his knee slammed against the underside of the table. "Ummm
— I just spilled my beer."

Luci took a deep breath and winked. "If you say so, kid. Come on, Alley-cat… curl right on up here."

When the woman didn't move, Luci reached back without looking and dragged her to the table. Then sat her down like a mother forcing a child to sit with unloved relatives. And nodded.

Mica looked at the woman… at
Allison
.

And grinned.

Allison looked at the scar on his forehead.

And shuddered.

"Oh," Mica said, running his fingers over the puckered flesh… trying to pull his hair down to cover it. "Sorry."

She wasn't the first woman who'd seen the scar and been repulsed by it. Piper hadn't even noticed it until he mentioned it. Then she claimed it looked more like a lopsided
X
than a cross. But Piper had never been able to see any of the miracles he'd tried to show her.

"Sorry," he said again.

"Do you
believe
this guy?" Luci said as she walked over and planted a cold kiss on the scar. A very cold kiss. It felt like she ran an ice-cube over his skin. "He goes around with the Big G in his pocket all day and night… then forgets that
vanity
is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

"Well, I think your scar is cute." She kissed it again and this time Mica couldn't stop the shiver. "And so will Alley-cat when she gets used to it. Right?"

"
Right
," they both answered.

Giggling, Luci patted Mica on the head and began walking toward the group near the stage, her snow white dress and hair swaying in time to the movements of her hips… Gypsy trailing after her like a puppy.

Leaving the two of them alone.

Together.

"Hey,
Gyp
! Mica called out, grabbing the beer Gina had pointedly ignored, "how 'bout a night-cap? I know the bartender here personally."

Mica waited for the usual slow chuckle and eye-roll and got neither. He even doubted if Gypsy would have turned around if Luci hadn't stopped and nodded. And when he did turn, it was like looking at a full sized oil painting
— flat and two dimensional.
Dead
.

"No thanks, pard. Gotta make sure these guys act like gentlemen tonight." Winking, Gypsy tapped the brim of his cap with two fingers and turned. The whole thing reminded Mica of a movie he once made in his high school Audio-Visual class.

A soft giggle, followed by an even softer sneeze, brought his eyes back across the table. At her.

Allison.

God, she was beautiful, more beautiful than Piper ever was or ever could be… yet there was something in her golden eyes… something that reminded him of Piper. Mica lifted the beer to his mouth and tried to wash away the desert that was covering his tongue.

So beautiful. And so… lost.

Is that it, Lord? Is this the way You've chosen so that I may fully redeem myself in Your sight? Please, Lord… just give me a sign.

Allison sniffled, wiping her nose off on the back of her hand — and in that sniffle Mica realized that not even a bolt of lightning shooting through the ceiling and ending at the feet of the Archangel Himself could have shown him God's purpose more clearly: He was to lift Allison off the street of Self-indulgence and Pride and set her firmly back onto her spiritual feet.

Much the same way he'd scooped her up off Sunset… when he thought she was just a drunken whore.

"Hey, again," he said, lowering the bottle, "
Alley-cat
."

Mica had hoped that using the nickname would help cut a path through the tension. It didn't so much as nick it.

"Preacher-boy."

But at least it was a start.

"It's really Mica," he said, setting the bottle aside and holding out his hand to her.

She just looked at it.

"
What's
really Mica?"

"My name."

"Mica?"

"Yes ma'am… a name as strong as the ancient Prophet who foretold the doom of Judah. Praise God!"

Allison scooted closer to the end of the booth. "I though mica was that flaky mineral we tried to set fire to in science class."

"Yes, but it didn't bun did it?" The spirit was moving in him now and Mica wasn't about to stop it. The hand he'd offered her now closed into a fist
— ready to fight anyone who would challenge the Word. "You tried to burn it but it didn't burn… because it was impervious to the flames, wasn't it? And that's why my name is Mica — because I'm impervious to the flames that have destroyed other men. Sing His Glory!"

Mica was panting when he finished — the fine sheet of sweat already drying in the cool air as he lowered his hand and smiled.

"Then you
really
are a preacher."

"Oh, yes."
The Truth, Mica
! "Well, sort of. I don't have any kind of church or anything… nothing like that. I just praise the Lord whenever the Spirit moves me and try to lend a hand to those who have fallen by the way."

A small half smile touched Allison's lips as she dipped her finger into the water ring the bottle left behind.

"Well, as
one
of the fallen… literally… I just want to thank you and your lending hand."

"Just part of the job… like listening and not making judgments if somebody wanted to unburden themselves."

He reached across the table and took her hand without thinking — it just seemed like the natural thing to do. For some reason. Allison's flesh was as cold as Luci's had been. She snatched her hand back so quickly it left freezer burns on his palm.

"Don't!"

Mica didn't answer.
Couldn't
answer. He was too busy waiting for her to explode. Face screwed up tight, back rigid, one hand clamped onto the edge of the table, the other pressed over her nose
— her whole body trembled as the sneeze built to escape velocity.

Mica prepared himself — a
Bless you
already on his lips — when one watery eye opened and glared at him. Warned him off.

The sneeze died silent and unmourned.
I'll catch her the next time, Lord… I promise
.

"Oh, G—eeeze, I'm sorry. This stupid cold…" She shrugged and sniffed
— her nose as pale as the rest of her face, her eyes clear and shining again. The lie about having a cold was going to stand fast.

Mica nodded and forgave her. He would wait and keep waiting until she felt comfortable enough to tell him the Truth about what had driven her to the streets.
Because waiting's part of the job, too. Waiting until the sinner is ready to confess and accept Your Forgiveness, Lord. So I'll wait, Lord, then, just as Jesus reached out to Mary Magdalene and lifted up her soul so am I sent to this woman to lift up her skirts and fuck her legs off
.

SHIT!

Mica prayed he hadn't said it out loud… but wasn't sure when he looked up
— ashamed and repentant — into Allison's eyes and saw the smirk.

"A
preacher
, huh?"

"Yeah. That just means somebody who preaches the Word to whoever'll listen… even if the
who
is just the image staring back at you from a mirror."

All traces of humor faded from her face.

Allison.

God, she was beautiful.

God, he was pathetic.

A Born-Again-Nothing-Can-Harm-Me-Because-I've-Been-Saved-But-You're-Still-Up-Purgatory-Creek-Unless-You-Part-Those-Legs-And-Accept-The-Lord-Holy-Roller
hypocrite
!

Allison's nose twitched and she ran a finger under it.
Shit
. The holy man's scent was all over her and it burned her nose worse than cayenne pepper.

He blessed her again — in his mind — and Allison's belly cramped up on itself. Damn, she wished he'd stop doing that. If Luci hadn't mentioned that his blood would probably destroy her, she would've ripped his head off and been
done
with it.

Right here and now.

The last comment about the mirror had gotten to her more than it should have.
Maybe he KNEW
. But even as the possibility blossomed Allison was cutting it down. No. The guy was too self-important not to miss the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rid the world of a flock of vampires.

A
covey
of vampires?

A
tooth-full
?

Allison brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked across the table. Smiled. He smiled back and "saw" her wearing an orange tabby-cat costume
— complete with long silky whiskers and fluffy striped tail — working on his engorged cock like it was the world's largest bowl of cream; while he prayed for her immortal soul.

You fucking, Bible-humping, sanctimonious
—

"You sure you're okay?"

Allison blinked him back into focus and nodded. He was just what he seemed — a perverted over-zealous asshole.

She could handle that.

"Yeah." She sniffled for effect. "It's just this cold thing… you know."

He nodded and took another pull off the bottle. She could have told he didn't believe her about having a cold even without supernatural powers. His eyes told her. Normally a soft blue-grey, they darkened to the color of a winter storm each time she mentioned it.

The windows to the soul.

Allison sniffed again and leaned back against the booth — watching the storm gather strength. It would be so easy… cayenne pepper or not…

The sound of laughter near the stage made her turn. One of the three dinner guests was wearing Luci's rhinestone collar and doing a first class bump-and-grind down the silent runway. Luci and Miriam were clapping and Gina was giving one man just enough attention to keep him happy. In fact,
all
of the…
What did Luci call them?
… the
Breathers
looked happy.

Except for the one Allison was sitting with.