Night Prayers (11 page)

And a midget in a monkey-vomit green caftan huffed into the room.

Miriam.

Not
exactly
a midget, Allison decided, although without the heavy-heeled orthopedic oxfords she couldn't have been much over five feet.

If that.

Short, round, her permed hair rinsed to the color of a Robin's egg, Miriam looked like everyone's favorite old maiden aunt —

"So you called like maybe the place is on fire?"

— from the Lower East-Side.

"Miriam," Luci said, "this is Allison."

Miriam grabbed the pair of shocking-pink tortoise shell glasses that had been hanging around her neck and slid them on
— glaring at Allison through the thick lenses. They magnified her tiny eyes a hundred fold.

"She really doesn't need those," Luci whispered to Allison, "she just likes the way they look."

"I can understand why," Allison whispered back.

Then
burst out laughing.

Miriam's eyes completely filled the lenses.

"For
this
you called me?" she asked, pointing a mauve-painted fingernail at Allison. "If I want to see a laughing hyena I can turn on
Wild Kingdom
."

A mental swat across the backside from Luci — although painless — was loud enough to re-establish Allison's priorities. These were the only others of her kind she'd met besides Seth, and if she was going to learn
anything
about her new after-life style it would be from these women.

Sitting up quickly, Allison tucked her legs up under her and tried to look repentant (as much as she was still able) when Gina pointed her own accusing claw.

"She did Big Mike!"

"Oh, like you don't think I see you and little-Miss-Innocence over there sneaking out between shows for a quickie," Miriam said, clicking her tongue. "Nah, nah, nah, there's still plenty around here that I know all about, thank you very much."

"No, Miriam," Luci interrupted, "Gina means she
did him
."

"Yeah… so she did him."

"No. She. DID. him."

"She
did
him?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, you mean she
DID
him."

"Yes, Miriam."

"Oy."

Luci bowed her head and sighed. "Uh huh."

"This true?" Miriam asked, giant owl eyes shifting back to Allison. "This true what they said about Big Mike?"

"Um… well, I didn't know…"

"Ah, get your fingers caught in the sugar cookies and it's always the same. I didn't know. I didn't know you were saving that potato for dinner. I didn't know those rubles were for rent.
I didn't know
that bum was family."

Miriam pulled off the glasses and tucked them carefully inside the caftan, as if she were worried Allison might make a try for them as well.

"So tell me, Miss-Laughing-Hyena-I-Could-See-On-Television," she continued, "why'd you
DO
Big Mike? There's not maybe a million bums in this neighborhood that you had to go pick ours? He could barely handle
these
two and you have to come and shake those hot panties in his face. What? Like you couldn't smell our mark on him?"

"Mark?" Allison asked.

Three sets of eyes — green, black and piggy grey — stared at her in childlike wonder.

"Damn," Luci said, breaking the momentary silence, "you really
are
a virgin, aren't you?"

"Um…"

"Now look what we got," Miriam snapped, "from laughing hyena to humming bird. Is this a vampire we got here or a whole
ferstinkena
zoo?"

Moving in. Luci tossed an arm protectively around Allison's shoulders and squeezed. Given the black looks she was getting from the other two, Allison put aside the discomfort she'd felt earlier and pressed close. She'd worry about clearing up whatever misconceptions the gesture might have inspired
later
.

Right now, Luci was the only thing sitting between her and possible dismemberment.

"Her Maker sucked her dry and left," Luci said. "I don't think he even gave her the basics. You know, the standard eat and run type. Probably didn't even show her how to leave her mark on a Breather… but that's a man for you, huh? Living or dead they only think about what's best for them. And if they're not fucking you one way, they're fucking you in another. Right Alley-cat?"

Allison nodded silently and tried to ignore the almost tangible waves of hate radiating across the room at her.
From Gina to Allison, with all my UNDYING love
.

Shit, what have I gotten myself into?

Whatever you want to get into, Alley-cat
, Luci's voice whispered inside her head.

When Allison jumped at the mental invasion, Luci tightened her grip — chuckling.

"So now we got two laughers for the price of one? This is maybe a contagious disease?" Miriam snorted, walking back to one of the chairs and collapsing into it. The woven bamboo creaked under the assault. "So go ahead… laugh… don't let me or the fact that we now got no Watchman worry you. Laugh. And when the cossacks come with their torches and stakes we can just laugh in their faces. Big Mike was like family, but go ahead. Laugh!"

"Oh, for Christ's sake, Miriam," Luci said. "Big Mike was
meat
. I told you we should have just called him
Big Mac
and let it go at that."

"Oh… and now she's telling me my business?" Miriam groaned, sweeping the air in front of her with one hand. "Lookee here, Miss We-Don't-Name-Our-Food-Because-You-Get-Too-Attached, I've been doing this centuries longer than either
you
or the Queen of the Jungle over there so I know what I'm talking about.

"You take
care
of your Watcher and your Watcher will take care of you. Big Mike wasn't much… but he was our Watcher and we should show some respect at his passing."

Miriam dropped her three chins and the other two followed. Allison got the message after Luci's elbow smacked into her rib-cage.

"He was a good breather, may he stay dead. Now, we got to find us a new Watcher right off and…" Miriam stopped talking and nodded her head at Allison
— her eyes sparkling like a Match-Maker. "I take it you want to keep this one, Luci?"

Luci gave Allison's shoulder another squeeze. "Sure do."

"What the fuck for?" Gina shouted, crossing the distance between them in one lunging stride. "We a'ready got us as many as we need. You get too many Suckers in one place and somebody's gonna notice. I say cut her loose!"

"Oh,
you
say cut her loose?" Miriam said as she stood — straightening to her full diminutive height. "And who died and made you Queen of the Jungle? What if I said
cut her loose
when you were still playing hide-and-seek with those men in white sheets? Huh?"

"But she's —"

"She's one of our own and that's all there is to that. Now, we got a room full of men out there wanting a little fur in their face. Gina… tone down the teeth and claws and get out there before they tear the place down."

"But?"

"Go. Everything's settled. Go."

Gina gave Allison one final long glare —
God if looks could kill and I wasn't already dead
— before sucking in her fangs and transforming from the
beast into
something that more closely resembled the cartoons on the walls.

Allison felt her jaw unhinge as she watched the sleek black-panther woman slip out of the multi-colored robe and tossed it over one shoulder. Tail twitching angrily from side to side, she moved with slow, deliberate steps to the row of hooks on the far wall and selected a spiked collar.

Turning, Gina growled at Allison and stalked to the door — nose and tail in the air.

"And tell Gypsy I want to see him," Miriam shouted after her. "I hate to do it
— he so good throwing out drunks, but… considering the alternative."

Miriam twisted her hand back and forth in an exaggerated manner and Luci giggled. Allison wasn't sure she wanted to be let in on the joke.

"So, Allison is it?"

"Yes, ma'am. Allison Gar—"

"No last names," Miriam said quickly. "Last names only tie us to the past. Besides, I'll put something down on the W-2's later. Not to worry."

"W-2's?" Allison asked as she slipped out of Luci's grip and leaned back against the wall. Regardless of what Luci had told her, she still felt a little dizzy. "You mean as in… income tax?"

This time Miriam's eyes grew without benefit of the coke-bottle glasses.

"Of course I mean income tax. What, you think I want the cossacks riding down here because I don't pay taxes. Sheeze, that would be a fine kettle of blood."

Allison shook her head until the room began spinning again.

"I don't understand," she said, "why do
vampires
need jobs? We're… dead."

"So being dead should stop a person from earning — if you should pardon the expression
— an honest night's work? You think the electric company and liquor licensing board should care if we're dead or not? HAH! Those people'd dig down six feet if they thought there was a penny in a dead man's pocket."

"But…
working
?"

"Well, what else would you suggest, Alley-cat?" Luci asked as she leaned back on the bed and folded her arms back behind her head. "Hit the streets like we're hookers? Too much competition and
way
too many cops."

The word
cops
sent shivers creeping into Allison's belly.

"On the outside you could find yourself neck deep in shit before you knew what hit you. Here we have a Watcher and people who just think of us as nice, respectable exotic dancers. Besides," Luci smiled, running a pale pink tongue over paler lips, "
this
way the cattle come to us. Makes hunting a hell of a lot easier when its given of it's own free will."

Allison nodded, mulling it over. "Huh?"

Miriam mumbled something foreign Allison didn't catch and Luci started giggling again.

"You poor baby," Luci said. "Look, here's the bottom line, okay? Vampires feed off the living to survive, you understand that part, don't you?"

Allison nodded. And Miriam mumbled again.

"Good. Now think, in all the movies and books about vampires, what
traditionally
happens when this sort of thing occurs?" Luci didn't wait for Allison to guess. "Well, I'll tell you… large, angry villagers with torches and wooden stakes come knocking at your door.

"It might be fun in the movies, but it's not too pleasant if you've got the starring roll."

Luci jerked her head toward Miriam and Allison glanced over to see the tiny "woman" silently clawing splinters off the arm-rests.

"
This
way," Luci said, redirecting Allison's attention back to her, "the cattle not only round themselves up, but they
beg
us to brand them. It all works out
so
well, Alley-cat… trust us, we've been doing this for a long,
long
time."

Allison didn't even
want
to know how long.

"Yeah, yeah," Miriam looked at her watch and rolled her eyes. "So, Allison… Alley-cat, whatever, you want a job or not?"

"Maybe I should mention that I had a little… trouble and the… police are probably looking for me. Right now."

"Oy!
This
I need?" Miriam shouted at the ceiling. "It's not bad enough that You send me one of Your loud-mouth servants? Now I end up with a criminal fugitive? What, being
damned
isn't good enough for You?"

"Miriam gets a little carried away at times," Luci said to Allison. "Besides,
Miriam
, they're looking for a corpse, remember. Don't worry kid, even if they trace you here you can always change into someone else."

"I don't think so," Allison said, remembering the disaster in the car when she tried to
change
clothes. "I must have blown a fuse or something. I tried to put on something… clean and nothing happened."

Sitting up with a groan, Luci reached over and tugged on the blood splattered leg of Allison's shorts.

"Damn, I wish I could get my claws into that Maker of yours for just a few minutes… Look, baby, rule number one
— blood keeps us going, but if we get any of it on us we can't transform. Got it? Good. Now slip out of those things and we'll have the new Watcher burn them. Evidence you know."

"Yeah."
Made sense
. "Good idea."
The faster they got rid of every trace of her victims blood the better
. "I'll do that."

Then why wasn't she?

This was stupid.

She'd been undressing in front of other females since the seventh-grade. In front of boys since the eight-grade. Besides, she was going to be an
exotic dancer
… and that meant she'd be bumping and grinding in the nude every night from now on.

So why couldn't she undress in front of
these
two?

More specifically in front of Luci?

Allison knew why the moment Luci stood up — naked, skin gleaming like polished pink marble. Just seeing her standing there made Allison feel the same way walking alone had once made her feel. An easy target. Defenseless. Vulnerable.

"No! It's okay, I can…"

"Shh," Luci whispered. "I'm just going to help. Don't get your back up, Alley-cat. Not
yet
anyway."

Allison gasped — a remarkable feeling since her lungs didn't work — when Luci suddenly darted forward and dipped her tongue into the patch of dried blood between her breasts.

"Humm…
O
-positive with traces of
A
and
B
-negative. My, my," she said as she kneeled in front of Allison. "You
have
been a busy girl."

Allison kept the next gasp to herself as Luci slowly pulled the jogging shorts down past her knees to her ankles.

"Oh… you're a natural red head," Luci giggled. "That means you have a HOT disposition, doesn't it?"

"I — I don't know. I… get a little cranky now and then but —" The pin snapped in half and shot across the room as Allison ripped the vest open.

Luci's smiled widened considerably.

"Now the question is," Luci said as she got to her feet — her shoulder
accidentally
brushing against Allison's crotch on the way up, "are
they
real or did you manage to figure out how to do some of this already?"