by Adams, Nancy
Even after I’d taken a quarter of it in that first bite, it beat again, and the man I’d torn it from gave one final scream at the same time. I quickly ate the rest, and watched the shine of life leave his eyes, and that’s when I let out a squeal of my own, shaking and trembling as a thrill that was as intense as an orgasm washed over me.
Jen said, “Damn, after watching that, I need to get laid!"
I’d completely forgotten they were all there. Suddenly I felt terribly embarrassed as I looked up and saw them all standing there, staring at me.
“Um—I...”
“Relax, Amber,” said Horace. “We all understand how erotic it is to feed, and none of us will be judging you. We vampires use sex as part of our hunting strategy, you know.”
“Yeh!” Simone said. “Men like me a lot, ‘cuz I’m so little! Even after I bite ‘em, most of ‘em are willing to come back and let me bite ‘em again!” She giggled, and winked at me.
“As for me,” Madeline said, “I like the power as much as the drinking. The men I feed from beg me to use them, to hurt them, to punish them—it thrills me!” Her smile was narrow and vicious.
I glanced at Jen, and she grinned and shrugged. “Hell, Honey,” she said, “I just like having a man hold me, touch me—it feels good, and it’s my way of paying for what I take from him.”
“But now,” said Horace, “let’s clean up the mess here, and go have some fun! Amber, gather up your leavings—I’d take mattress and all, if I were you—and I’ll show you where you can drop it down into the old mine shaft, so he’ll never be found. Rudy’ll throw some dirt in here to soak up the blood, and then you can take a dip in a pond just past the shaft.”
I did as he said, and carried my grisly leftovers as easily as if they were an air mattress. He showed me a concrete pad, a cover that had been poured over the shaft opening, and a crack at one corner showed a deep chasm underneath. Horace reached into the crack and lifted a chunk of concrete that was three times his own weight, at least, and I dropped my burden into the pit below.
It splashed into water at the bottom, but it fell for several seconds before it did. I guessed the shaft must have been one of the deep old ones they used to work back in the nineteen thirties.
Feeding half-naked did make it easier to get clean, but I resolved to get some travel-sized bottles of shampoo and body wash to take with me the next time I went to feed. That night, I just did the best I could with plain pond-water, and promised myself a nice hot shower when I got home.
I clambered out of the pond a few minutes later, and dried myself by heating up my body again. I ran my hot hands through my hair, which Simone said made me look like an angel (“Ya got like a halo of steam, it looks so pretty with the moonlight shinin’ through it!"), but left it damp. I reached for my clothes, but Simone insisted on helping me dress, using me like a big, life-sized Barbie doll, but she startled me when, right after buttoning my shirt for me, she kissed me!
It was just a peck, nothing extreme, and I puckered up and kissed her back without even thinking about it, sorta the way I did with my little sisters. Simone giggled, and said, “Thank’ee, ducklin!” and then she turned and did a sort of dance step over to where Madeline stood, watching, “Well,” Horace said, sounding amused, “if we might go, then?”
He turned and ran off toward the woods where we’d left my car. The others took off after him, so I laughed and followed.
Chapter Ten
Amber
When we got to where we’d hidden the Mustang, Horace and Rudy went a short distance further and I heard another engine start. They’d left the other truck somewhere, and pulled up beside me in a big, new Chevy Blazer. I raised my eyebrows at Rudy, who was driving it. He grinned at me.
“It was a gift from your recent dinner date,” he said. “And since he won’t be needing it, and no one will be looking for it anytime soon, we thought it’d be only fitting for us to use it for a bit.”
“Oh,” I said, “wow...” A pang of guilt flashed through me at this reminder that the man I’d just eaten had been a person—but it didn’t last long. Now, I know that humans have an infinite capacity for self-justification, and I guess I’m living proof of that, because I almost never have any problem justifying my victims to myself—though there’s more to that, and we’ll talk about it later.
“Get your car,” Horace said, “and follow us. We’re gonna show you how our half lives!"
Madeline and Jen climbed into the back seat of the Suburban, and I wasn’t surprised when Simone said she wanted my shotgun seat. We threw off the limbs and other camouflage piled on the Mustang, and jumped in.
“Where are we going?” I asked as I backed out onto the road and got behind the truck.
“Someplace Horace knows,” Simone answered. “He was through here a few years back, he says, and knows a club where we can get a drink.”
I glanced at her. “A club? Okay, problem with this idea—while you guys might be a couple hundred years old—or more—I’m still only eighteen! You have to be twenty-one to go into a club, here!"
Simone laughed, and bounced on the seat like a little girl. “Oh, you’re fun, ducklin! Don’t be so worried—here! “
She reached down the front of her blouse and pulled out a card, which I saw was a Missouri driver’s license—and the picture on it looked so much like me that I almost forgot to watch the road! I took it and looked it over; it was for a girl named Katherine Miller, who was twenty-two years old. I held it, and looked at Simone.
“This girl,” I said. “Is she—is she dead?”
“Her? Oh, no! She’s fine, but fer gettin’ drunk and losin’ her wallet last night!” She giggled again, and then sobered. “I’m like Jen; I don’t like it when we kills someone, not ever! I was really sorry we was killin’ you—but then Jen fixed ya, so it turned out good for us all, right?”
I reached over and touched her hand. “Does it—does it upset you, when you see me eat?”
She spun her face toward me, and the look of confusion in her face almost made her look cross-eyed. “Huh?” she said. “Why would it, ducklin?”
“Well—you said you don’t like it when people get killed...”
“Aw, no, not like that!” she said. “I mean, fer you it’s just how it is, you don’t got no choice in it, but me and Jen, we’re alike cuz we don’t like to see any o’ the young ones die. Like when we bit ya—I was athirst, just like Mad, but even while I was suckin’ on yer leg, I was sorry, y’know?”
I smiled at her. “It’s okay, Simone. I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t upsetting you.”
“Nah. I like watchin’ ya—makes me feel all sexy inside, it does!"
I blushed. “Well—to tell you the truth, it does me, too,” I said, and she giggled at me.
“It’s one o’ the best parts about us livin’ f’rever—all the sex stuff, it feels so good! Mmmm! And wait ‘til ya let a man do stuff to you, oh, it feels so much better than when we was alive!” She leaned back against the seat, and put both hands out the window, waving them in the wind as I drove. “I mean, I done some stuff with a couple o’ boys, back afore I got turned, and it was fun, y’know? But after Horace showed me his ways, and I started lettin’ the men diddle me, oh, it was so much more, so much better! Yer gonna love it, ducklin!"
She was so delighted that I couldn’t help laughing, and that made her smile even wider. “Hey,” I said, “Why do you call me ducklin?”
“Ducklin? Back when I was alive, I had a big sister, and she used to let me go with her when she went out to get the geese and the ducks and bring ‘em in, and I was just a little girl, then, y’know? So, the geese, they were so big, and they’d chase me and bite me, so I was scared of ‘em, so she’d switch ‘em on, and let me bring the ducklins. And that’s what she’d call me, ducklin, cuz o’ me bringin’ in the little ducklins, right? And now, me, I’m sorta your big sister, now, even though you’re a little bit bigger’n me...”
Her logic made me smile.
We continued chatting as I drove; we’d gotten onto the Highway, and were headed south. I checked my watch, saw that it was only ten-thirty, and was surprised a moment later when Rudy put on a turn signal and took the next exit, toward Herrin. I suddenly remembered that there was a club out this way—a big one! I’d never been to it, but it was legendary to probably all Southern Illinois teenagers.
The place was called Harley’s, though it had nothing to do with the large number of motorcycles that were always parked there. Harley was the owner, and over the years, he’d built his place into the busiest, jumping-est joint around! Just about everyone I knew had tried at one time or another to get in, but the bouncers carded you if you looked like you might be under forty, and I had never heard of anyone under twenty-one who got past them, even with a fake ID.
Sure enough, Rudy pulled into Harley’s, and I followed him to a dark corner in the back of the parking lot. Simone jumped out, and I did too, but I was terrified of trying to get into the bar—we went over to Horace, and I tried to explain.
“Horace,” I said, “rumor has it that Harley hires bouncers who can read your mind!”
He looked at me. “And?”
“And I don’t think I want anyone getting a look inside mine! Oh, well, looky here, they’d say, two murders and a double order of cannibalism! Yeah—that’d really go over well!"
Horace shushed me. “Didn’t Simone give you...? Ah, she did! So, for tonight, you’ll be Katherine, and we’ll go on in and have us all a good time!"
I followed him nervously, and Simone danced along beside me. When we got to the front door, Horace paid the cover charge for all of us, and—since none of us looked that old—we were all required to produce ID for the bouncer to check. I was sure he could hear my heart beating a mile a minute, but when I held out the license Simone had given me, he glanced at it, then at me, and waved me in as he handed it back.
Oh, good Heavens, I was in Harley’s! My first thought was about how cool it would be if all my friends found out; my second was that my mother would be devastated if she ever heard about it. My third thought—
My third thought was lost in the explosion of sensations that hit me as I entered. I could hear hundreds of people talking around me all at once, hear the music from the live band (Foreigner’s “Jukebox Hero”)…I could see all the dancers and all the drinkers and all the wallflowers, smell dozens of different drinks, even smell the individual ingredients that went into each of them! There were hundreds of different perfumes, colognes, antiperspirants—
Just as it had been in the forest, I could take it all in as a symphony of sights, sounds and smells, or I could instantly focus on any single sensation as easily as picking a red flower from a bouquet with other colors in it.
We all moved through the throng together, and arrived at a booth against the back wall. Simone slid in and pulled me in beside her, and Horace took the remaining spot on our side; Jen took the wall on the other, Mad the center, and Rudy sat facing Horace. I was about to ask whether I should avoid alcohol, when a cocktail waitress arrived. With quick and practiced motions, she cleaned the ashtray on our table, and then asked for our order.
While the other side was ordering, Horace leaned toward me and whispered, “I’m pretty sure you can’t get drunk—we can’t, either, but a drink still tastes good, and helps the fun factor in these little hunting trips. Have you been out drinking, before, or is that another teenage rite of passage you managed to miss out on?”
I scowled at him, then said, “My boyfriend and I have drunk beer, and wine—and I had a little whiskey, once...”
“And you’re still cherry? Amazin’!” I blushed, and Horace ordered me a rum and Coke, then a whiskey sour for himself. Simone ordered a screwdriver, and the waitress smiled and left.
“Here’s what we do,” Horace said to me. “We’ll sit here through one drink, then Rudy and I will stroll around and find us some local flavor—meaning, we’ll each pick up a lover for the night. Once we’re gone, and the lads around realize that none of you girls is tied to one of us...”
“They always ask me if Horace is my father,” Simone blurted, and then began dancing in her seat.
“Yes, they do,” Horace said with a grin. “Anyway, they’ll move in, then, and start workin’. I know you’ve just fed, and you’re bulgin’ a fair bit, but you might want to dance and have some fun. No harm in it, and you need to know how we’re planning to live, once we get out west.”
“And it’s fun, ducklin!” said Simone, and suddenly she stood up and danced, right on her seat, and a dozen people—mostly guys—began shouting encouragement to her. Horace let out a loud laugh.
“Amber-luv, there’s the ticket! Just stick with Simone; this is her favorite part of immortality! Have fun, and we’ll meet up with you as planned, right?”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll go get a van tomorrow, then, and have it all loaded by Saturday night. I’ll pull out an hour before sunrise Sunday, and meet you guys at the same comer.”
“Sounds good,” Horace said. “Just remember, you’ll be getting hungry by Sunday evening, so don’t let anything change your mind. We need to be on the road before you feed again.”
I agreed, and took a deep breath. Life was certainly different.
Rudy
I sat there until Horace was done talking to Amber, but I’d already spotted what I wanted for the night. I got up and wandered around the place, smiling and talking to a lot of different faces, but keeping my eyes on my target the whole time.
I saw Horace move in on a couple of ladies who seemed to be both taken by him. Lucky bastard, he’d get to sip from two, while I had to settle for just one.
Oh, well. At least, for once, there was one there that met my own tastes. And I was getting closer.
Jennifer
I watched Amber as she sat there. I could tell she was nervous about being in the place, but with Katherine’s ID, she was fine. No one would have guessed she wasn’t the girl in the photo, it was that close.
I waited until the men were up and gone, and Mad went just after they did. I’m sure she’d already spotted the guy she wanted for the night, some weakling who would call her Mistress and suck her toes when she told him to. Me, I needed a man, not a mouse, and there were several floating around in there that night, but first, I needed to clear the air with Amber.
Chapter Eleven
Amber
Our drinks arrived a moment later, and I took a sip—and my eyes probably flew open! My goodness, the flavors of rum and cola—I’d never had the drink before, but I would never have guessed it could taste so good.
Simone was smiling again, but that little body didn’t know how to sit still, not if there was music playing. She had flopped back down beside me when her screwdriver got there, and was sipping it through the skinny little straw as she gyrated around in the seat.
She leaned close to my ear. “One o’ the fun parts is lettin’ the men think they’re gettin’ what they want, stead o’ the other way round,” she said. “I like the older ones, the ones who like to think they’re still able to turn a young’un like me on! They want me to think they’re the best I ever had, y’know, so they gives me stuff—presents, and stuff, like rings and necklaces, and all kinds o’ stuff. And I make sure they get a good time, and they get to believe they’re diddlin’ a little cutie-pie, like they always dreams about, right? It’s a good trade-off, a whole lot o’ fun, and they always let me nibble so I get me some blood in the bargain!"
I shook my head; she had said all that as easily as one of my high school girlfriends might tell me about making one of the local boys buy her flowers and candy before he got into her pants. I wasn’t shocked, exactly, but to hear it from a pretty young girl who was at least two hundred years old was interesting to say the least!
The band had switched to some song I didn’t know, a hard rock tune about drugs and sex, of course, and Horace leaned over and said something to Rudy, who nodded. A moment later, he leaned toward
me, and said, “Okay—like I said before, just stick with Simone. Say she’s your cousin or something, and act like you have to watch out for her. She’ll find a pair of blokes you can have some fun with.”
I was about to blush and make some sort of comment when he abruptly got up and walked away. Rudy did likewise a second later, and Madeline slid out right after him, and walked off into the crowd.
Jen gave me a smile. “I’ve wanted to tell you,” she said, “that I—I really did think I was doing you a favor. When I did this to you, I mean—I didn’t know it would be like this, for you. Horace had told me about grues, but I honestly thought it was just another kind of ghoul. I didn’t know anything about them having to eat living people.”
I looked at her for a moment, and thought about what to say to the woman who had first participated in what should have been my murder, and then turned me into the most dangerous monster that existed on earth, the woman who’d made me a man-eater—and then I leaned over and said, “Jen, don’t worry about it. If I’d known how good it would be, I probably would have begged for it!"
She smiled at me, then, and said, “Okay—thanks. It’s been eating at me, that you might hate me for it.” She ran her hands through her hair, and stood up. “You girls have fun; I’m gonna go find me someone to cuddle for a while.” She turned away and disappeared just as Madeline had.
Simone gave me a push. “Come on, then, we’ll go dance. The men love it when they see two pretty girls a-dancin’ together, ‘specially if we get all sexy about it! Come on, move!"
I’d danced with some of my girlfriends before, and it wasn’t a big deal, but Horace’s comment about me and Simone sharing a couple of guys—I hoped he just meant here at the bar, but if there was one thing I was figuring out fast, it was that these vampires were about as uninhibited as they could get—which was way past anything I’d ever seriously considered doing. Remember, I was just a small-town country girl; despite all of Vince’s attempts at my education. I was pretty much an innocent.