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23 Brat in the Paper Aisle

MAKEDA

She stood under the eave of a post office that looked out on the Safeway parking lot, watching the oldat the door Well, that would make seven She knew she should wait for the others, but what fun was there in that A lean black guy let the old s into the store, then locked the door behind hi, then along the front behind a long train of shopping carts, where she could look through the ithout being seen herself They were spread out, each working an aisle to himself She really should call for the others Neither would be that far away, but she did so little on her own anylas, she wasn’t going through that She could kick the door down, of course, but then they would run and there’d be chasing and if any got away Rolf would pout with disapproval forherself She once awakened to find Bella and Rolf ether in mist without her and refused to take solid form for a year except to feed

That was how they began each night, ed inevery corner of each other’s consciousness, every , complete intimacy After an hour or so, they would assume their solid forms, then leave the chamber and feed, or watch a video of a sunrise or sunset That was it! Mist She would go into the store by stealth Except for the one with the dogs, they were all young men, weren’t they? She knew she could hold the rapt attention of a young man She’d take each one, drain hi what happened, then share the experience with Rolf and Bella to new and dangerous to their night

She wouldn’t be able to wear her special suit, or take any of the weapons, but it was just as well She couldn’t leave bodies Seven She’d be as full as a tick, ready to pop She checked that none of the carts, then lay down and oozed out of the Kevlar bodysuit, across the sidewalk, and under the door

Rock and roll was blasting out of the PA systeuitar that drowned all other sound She swirled around the registers, then started to make her way across the aisles The first tere e all by himself on a milk crate Scented candles were lit up and down either side of the aisle, as if so strip She could sense the others around her, but her perceptions weren’t as sharp in mist form and the odor and heat from the candles made it nearly impossible to tell how far away they were Their heartbeats and breathing were lost in the music, but there was blood in the air All over in the air She floated up to the ceiling, where she could see over the tops of the shelf gondolas There were two of the in time to the music

Rolf would have wafted back out the door and called the others, and Bella would have drawn an elaborate plan to stalk them, one at a time, and pick them off when they were alone, but that was exactly why she wasn’t going to do either of those things

As she pulled herself into solid for in her chest, like her heart caving in on itself Not a physical pain, but a sudden absence One of the others was suddenly not there Rolf Just not there She stood there in front of the oldherself back to the hunt

"Don’t scream," she said

THE EMPEROR

He didn’t like that the men were locked in the walk-in cooler, and he didn’t like that the Animals had tied him up, rubbed liver and steaks all over him, and set him on a milk box, but he had done his duty to his city He had alerted the only people ould listen to the presence of the black ship, told thee faux-Hawaiian had said about the old va for them, and he could have some peace of mind in that They didn’t have to duct tape his hands so tightly, and tape his ankles to the milk box They could have just asked Ah, youth

She materialized about twelve feet in front of hiht have been made of polished ironwood, yet the death-pallor made her lips appear lavender Her hair was triold, but he couldn’t tell for sure She shivered for aapplied to her body He watched herunder her skin in waves

Then she stopped shaking and opened her eyes

"Don’t scream," she said Blood tears formed in the corners of her eyes

"Oh my, if you aren’t lovely," said the Es there, and he suddenly felt as if he ht wet himself

She moved a few steps closer to him "Are those steaks on your shoulders?" she said

"Yes There’s liver in my pockets as well"

She cocked her head as if listening "Where are the others?"

"I don’t know," he said

Her hand shot out and in an instant her fingers rapped in his beard and she was pulling his head back, not yanking, but pulling with an irresistible strength, as if he’d been hitched to a poinch "Where are they?"

He could feel his vertebrae cracking, feel her raking her fangs over his neck Then the sound of a high-pressure gas burst and she wasn’t there, and there was a length of heavy nylon line in the space where her face had been

"Down!" came Lash’s voice, as he, Troy Lee, Jeff, and Drew all rolled out of the shelves where they had been hiding behind rows of toilet paper and paper towels

The vampire woman’s head was pinned to a bale of paper toith the stainless-steel spear froun She screeched like a wildcat and pulled herself away and leapt at Dreas leveling a Super Soaker Lash yanked the spear gun and the nylon line whipped her around Jeff and Troy Lee opened garden sprayers on her from the front, while Drew unloaded the Super Soaker from the back

She screeched and writhed in the streareat slimy chunks, as if she ax and had been dropped into a foundry furnace It was all over in ten seconds, and every item for twenty feet in either direction had been knocked off the shelves, the Eht hioo that still bubbled as it broke down

"What do you know," said Troy Lee "Grandma’s tea worked"

Lash nodded and threw the spear gun to the floor with a clank "Clint! Clean up on aisle four!"

JODY

Because she never liked going to the gym, Jody decided to stake out the Raven fro next door instead of on the Bay Club The fact that she’d been able to leap from brick balcony to brick balcony until she was on the roof, six floors up, proved what she had alwaysout is narcissistic bullshit She alirls she’d worked with at the Transa the to the Bay Club or 24 Hour Fitness in hope ofsomeone asn’t a creep and, in the case of the Bay Club ined theuest pass Mohitos afterward?"

"No thanks," she’d say "I’rab the satchel with the three-hundred grand I stashed on a roof up the street, and go back to my loft and fuck my immortal boyfriend until dawn"

Okay, that wasn’t really what she was going to do, but she for godda all sweaty so she could y on below

She could see the Raven across the E nautical stuff with different instru nautical stuff He could have just been dicking around with expensive equip from a few of the ports below the cockpit, but she didn’t see any movement The sense of immediacy that had driven her here had evaporated so Tommy, but didn’t have any idea what his new cell phone nuht be She used Abby’s phone and dialed Foo’s number, but it went to voice n

If the other two vampires were out of the ship, and she had to wait for theet a shot at them from this far away If they didn’t coht outside at sunrise There was a warehouse by the pier, perhaps that roof And she’d set herself a time limit If they didn’t show by a half-hour before sunup, she’d head back to the loft Even at a slow, hu she’d make it in plenty of time

She’d have to sneak down the back of the building, though You didn’t want people to see you ju two or three stories at a time She understood why the vampires had to keep their secret, she really did, but not at the expense of the her friends

"Good view?" A woman’s voice came from behind her

Jody rolled and whipped around, pulling Foo’s UV laser frolasses so she pointed the laser at the figure co across the roof toward her, closed her eyes, turned away, then fired The laser buzzed out a blue beah-pitched whining sound as it recharged its capacitor

"Oh, very nice," ca figure, wearing a skin-tight black suit, a blacksome sort of weapon She looked like a superhero

Jody was on her feet, in a crouch The laser thing was still charging, but ive her time to move

"Nah, nah, nah" The wo stream of pellets peppered Jody’s arm and she lost hold of the laser Jody felt as if her ar, with a clear liquid, not blood running out of it

The wolasses, but kept the weapon trained on Jody She was stunning, a pale, Mediterranean beauty aist-length hair like black silk and al is sweet, but you should get one of these," she said "It’s basically just a pellet gun modified to fire cheic"