Night Prayers (29 page)

Shit!

Allison tucked her knees under her and snuggled deeper into the rattan chair
— trying to find the
least
uncomfortable position.

It didn't help.

Nor did the constant massaging.

The skin between her breasts still ached.

One of the makeup chairs flew across the room and scattered against the far wall. Allison ignored it. It was the third chair Gina had destroyed in the last hour.

"Gina, boobala, sit," Miriam said. Again. "There's nothing you can do right now, so why wear out your legs."

Gina growled and Miriam shrugged.

"You see… you try to be nice and what does it get you?"

Miriam was scrunched into one corner of the daybed, another moth-eaten cat — even uglier than the one Allison had seen her with the day before, if that was possible
— purring wheezingly in the folds of her Mexican peasant dress.

Allison watched the old vampire pick a flea off the cat's mangled left ear and pop it into her mouth. Just the thought of eating… of hot blood pouring down her throat made the pain in her chest worse.

"
Jeeze
…" she moaned, "Miriam."

"Ah, poor li'l baby got an upset turn?" Gina snarled as she picked up an unopened jar of cold cream and tossed it almost casually over her shoulder. It made a creamy white puddle in the middle of the broken chairs. "Well, if you can't take the heat Fledgy, best'a get outta the kitchen… 'fore you burn yourself."

"Gina!" Miriam's hiss made the cat lay back its ears. "We're all in this together… you either be nice or go somewhere else."

Another jar, this one shattering into a goopy yellow splotch, joined the debris on the floor. Allison was about to look away when she saw Gina claw at her chest.

"Yeah, bitch," she said when she noticed Allison looking, "hurts like hell, don't it?"

"You mean you feel it, too?"

Gina rolled her eyes toward Miriam and curled down into one of the last remaining makeup chairs.

" 'Course
I feel it
, Fledgy, what'd you 'spect — that
you'd
be the onliest one? Shit… I was greener'n grass when I got turned an'
I
still knew 'nuff not to go stickin' my nose in where it weren't wanted!"

Gina's nails left four gouges in the table's formica top. "We never had us no trouble 'till you showed," she growled. "Why don't you leave 'fore another one of us gets staked."

Allison swung her legs slowly off the chair. Not once, while she was still a
Breather
, did she even
think
about fighting someone physically… although there'd been a few men she would have loved to have shot outright… but something deep inside her told her that the time had finally come. Gina would continue to ride her ass like a boil until Allison did something to stop it.

"You gotta be shittin' me," Gina said, smiling for the first time that Allison could remember. "You think you can take
me
on, Fledgy? Sheee-IT, I took out mean'r white folk'n you 'fore your granddaddy learned how to pee standin' up. But, if you want't'try…"

Gina turned toward her, drumming three inch, ebony talons against the table top.

"… don't let
me
stop you. I ain't killed one o'my own in a long time."

"Stop it, you two!" The cat high-tailed it off Miriam's lap when she clapped her hands together like a Kindergarten teacher trying to restore order. "You think like you're the only ones suffering here? Hah… you don't know from suffering. My first year in this country and I went through such hell it could only happen to a dead person
— so let me tell you, feeling the echo from a staking ain't such a much."

Gina huffed and clawed more furrows into the table.

"What do you mean by
echo
, Miriam?" Allison asked, even though she was sure she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Aw, such a baby we got here, Gina." Miriam tsk-tsked and tried to persuade the cat back onto her lap — without much luck at sounding sincere in either instance. "It's the blood line… it connects all of us no matter who our Makers were. When one of our kind is destroyed we all
feel
it — how
much
we feel it depends on how close the one who got staked was. I remember one time on the lower East Side…"

"The one got staked last night was
real
close, Fledgy.
Too
close," Gina barked. "And it was that damned boyfriend o'yours that done it."

Boyfriend? "Seth?"

"Fuck me, bitch, weren't you listenin'… I said
BOYfriend
, not Maker!"

Allison caught the inference in Gina's snarl and felt her skin crawl over itself along her backbone.
The Preacher-boy
?

Well, congratulations… you AIN'T as dumb as you look!

Allison suddenly realized that two were missing from their happy little Band of the Damned. The Watcher and…

Luci? Is she the one who got
— She couldn't even bring herself to think the possibility. As fragile as
life
was, death didn't seem any sturdier.

"Is Luci the one who got what?" Luci asked, walking into the room with Gypsy close on her heels. "Laid? Hell no." She winked at Allison. "Try though I did."

Another jar went flying through the air — this one smashing
just
above Allison's head.

"Oops," Gina said, "missed."

"Boy," Luci said, "I leave you guys alone for a couple of hours and you start acting like Valley Girls. Miriam…
Miriam
, will you stop playing with that damn thing and pay attention!"

Miriam stopped trying to attract the animal back onto the daybed and dutifully folded her hands in her lap.

"So what's up that you told me not to open the club tonight?" she asked. "There's a Garlic Growers Convention in town we should know about, maybe?"

Allison started to smile — until she saw Luci's face. Whatever the reason for the unscheduled holiday it must have been serious. Luci looked frightened. And that scared the shit out of Allison.

"Gypsy found the Preacher-boy," she said. "He's being held at the station on Colfax waiting a psychological evaluation. That's only a couple of blocks away from here… which is lucky for us."

"Why?" Allison asked.

When Luci turned, any trace of fear that Allison
thought
she'd seen on the angelic face had disappeared.

"Because, sweet-cheeks, we're going to bust him out."

Ask a silly question, Allison thought.

Become a Vampire… and see the world.

So far she'd seen one parking lot, two alleys, a cemetery, a deserted courtyard in one of L.A's most
well known
tourist spots and the inside of the
World Famous
Hollywood police station.

And I thought my LIFE was fulfilling!

Allison crossed her legs under the flowing navy skirt and glanced at the other women sharing the wooden slat-backed bench with her: Blond, brunette, fake redhead, one streaked grey
— all wearing tight, skimpy clothes and arch breaking high heels. If they'd been prettier and younger… and
dead
, they might have found jobs at the Pit. Instead they were just waiting for their pimps to come up with bail.

Luci was standing next to Gypsy at the Admitting desk talking to a khaki-uniformed officer. Occasionally — on cue — the Watcher would reach over and pat Luci on the shoulder. Comforting her in whatever fantasy she was concocting. Allison picked a stray piece of lint off her dress
— refusing to eavesdrop. Whatever the plan was, she'd find out about it soon enough.

Unfortunately.

Shit-eating son-of-a-bitch! I hope somebody blows him a new asshole!

Luci's mental bombshell made Allison look up. The words filling her mind were completely opposite to the softly sobbing woman walking slowly toward her
— face buried in her hands, leaning heavily on Gypsy's sturdy arm. One of the whores sitting next to Allison yawned loudly.

"Luci?"

For Christ's sake, Alley-cat— look stricken! You're fucking brother's in jail for murder.

Allison felt her jaw unhinge.
Who
?

Better
, Luci said, finally raising her head to accept a tobacco stained handkerchief from Gypsy and pressing it to what looked like real tears. She smiled sadly down at Allison.
Your brother… our own dear little Preacher-boy. I'll explain, later
.

But Luci
—?

Later, I said
. "Oh, Allison…" Luci said, crushing the handkerchief into a wad and pressing it against the all-too-real sounding sob. "It's
him
… it really is our poor Milo!"

Milo?

Luci nodded sadly even while her voice buzzed in Allison's mind.
The Preacher-boy's real name. Now stand up and shake out the terribly sensible dress you're wearing. If you can squeeze me out a tear or two all the better
.

When she still didn't move, Gypsy reached down and half-dragged, half-lifted Allison to her feet.

"There, there, little girl," he said loud enough for anybody who was interested in the drama to get an ear-full. "You're brother's going to be okay. There has to be some kind of mistake. Milo's the
sweetest
kid I ever met."

Allison bowed her head and hid behind her hand.
You going to tell me what this is all about
?

In good time, Alley-cat — but for right now just follow my lead and everything'll be fine. Okay, girlfriend… it's Showtime.

Allison let Gypsy help her back toward the Admitting Desk the same way he'd helped Luci away from it. Her calf length skirt kept flapping between her legs, but Luci had insisted on it as
well
as the pert, Peter Pan collared blouse that made her look like some suburban P.T.A President… circa 1953.

"Part of the disguise," she said, cocooning herself in a modest, knee-length business suit. "The Preacher-boy won't know what hit him."

Allison didn't ask then just like she didn't ask now.

She really didn't want to know.

Okay, sweet-cakes
, Luci's voice murmured at her,
see the nice man sitting behind the desk? He's a real dickhead but we have to play up to him or we won't get to see the Preacher-boy. Okay
?

Allison sniffled — and it wasn't because she was acting. Mica…
Milo
was somewhere close by. Dammit.

Good girl
, Luci said,
Now try a few tears. Male Breathers are suckers for a beautiful woman in tears… it brings out their latent maternal side
.

Great.
Luci
?

Yeah, Alley-cat?

Why don't we just use our supernatural powers to render them helpless and just walk in?

Luci stopped just short of the chest high counter and turned toward Allison — a sad smile trying to break through the tears.

Will you fucking stop pretending this is a vampire movie? THIS is reality, baby… it may suck but so do we. Okay?

"This is Milo's sister," Luci said as she hugged Allison to her breasts. "She's been staying with me… because… because… well, he's always been a little over-zealous in his beliefs, and when he found out she was gay, well…"