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“Shit!” I hit the wall
running full tilt. Don’t know where the damned wall came
from neither. It wasn’t supposed to be there, unless I’d
made a wrong turn back on Jackson. The bricks were old,
covered with pigeon crap and soot from the factory down the
way. My hands left a smear of blood on them, as I tried to
leap up to reach the top. Normally a jump like that wouldn’t
have been no trouble, but with a bullet or three in the back
of my leg I was a mite crippled.
I still thought I had a
chance until the headlights of their car flooded the wall. I
didn’t know who Mitzi was, but according to the graffiti
that I could now see on the wall she gave a good time. I
tried to decide whether I should keep trying to jump, or
just turn around and try to fight for my life. I did have an
advantage that the mooks chasing me didn’t know about. But I
wasn’t sure if I should be letting the cat out of the bag or
not.
The Big Boss of
Chicago’s vampires didn’t much like it when you flashed
fang. But then again, the BB weren’t pinned in an alley by
half a dozen mooks with heaters looking to ventilate little
ole me.
“Don’t suppose we can
just talk about this?” I asked as I turned around to face
them. The glare of the car’s headlights pinning me in place
like I was a prize buck. “I promise. Won’t never touch her
again. You tell your boss that, and I’ll put a little
somethin’ extra in my protection money every week.”
It was a good offer.
Gaggi was already squeezing me dry taken’ his cut out of my
place. The hail of bullets from six machine guns tearing
through my body was the only answer I got.
“Well fuck.” Valentine’s
Day hadn’t been supposed to end like this.
***
Curls and clouds of
smoke filled the air of the club, dancing like dragons in
the stage lights that were aimed at the opening act. I was
more interested in the smoke than I was the opener. Watching
Pauli Gaggi’s magic act was about as exciting as watching
paint dry. Only reason he was on the stage was his daddy had
threatened to close my speakeasy down.
I hated kowtowing to
Gaggi, but I didn’t have much choice. Lady Xue Ying, my
master, had made a deal with the gangster, and now I had to
do what they both wanted. As if having one collar ‘round my
neck hadn’t been enough. So there was his youngest boy,
trying to pull a rabbit out of his ass while my customers
drank my illegal hooch.
As I wiped down the
length of the bar, I filled a few glasses for the girls
along the way from one end to the other. Pauli’s act just
seemed to go on forever and ever. And after spending the
past twenty years of my life as a vampire, I figured I had a
good grasp on what forever was. And thanks to Pauli Gaggi, I
knew what been’ bored to death felt like too.
But all that stopped the
second the stage lights went dark. I moved to the center of
the bar where I’d have the best view of the stage. I’d have
been holding my breath if I needed to breathe more than once
a minute or so.
I could see her moving
onto the stage through the darkness. This was my special
time, when only I could see her. Well me and any other
vampires in the audience. But as far as I could tell, I was
the only blood sucker on the premises tonight.
When the lights came up,
both spotlights blazing down on Violet it was like seeing an
angel in the flesh. If God let’s his angels wear short
skirts with long beads and silk stockings that is.
Violet Deveraux was as
close to an angel as I’d ever get. Her skin was golden in
the stage lights, and as always she was showing a ton of it.
I loved the twenties. God knew what he was doing when he put
it into some girl’s head to stop dressing in seventeen
layers of fabric with a tight corset underneath. Not that I
didn’t like the look of a woman in a corset, if that was all
she was wearing. Well a smile was always a nice touch.
Violet smiled across the
room. I knew that smile was for me, and only me. If I
squinted my eyes just right, I could see the little love
bite I’d left right below her left ear. But you had to know
it was there to see it. That smile near warmed me as much as
the blood she’d shared with me earlier.
I was so in love with
her that I had gone stupid. I was taking chances that I
normally wouldn’t like sleeping with the wife of Gaggi’s son
for one. But I was careful. Pauli didn’t suspect a thing.
***
It was near closing time
when I helped get Pauli into the car. I lifted the drunk
into the passenger seat, while Violet climbed into the
driver’s. He was too far gone to notice me lifting him up
like a child.
“You goin’ to be all
right, Vi?” I asked her. I didn’t want to use too many
words. Her taste was on my lips from the kiss we’d shared
inside, and if I talked too much it would go away.
“I’ll be fine. Denver
Sinclair,” she reached across her husband’s limp body and
touched the back of my hand. Her skin was so warm it was
like been’ touched by the sun. “Don’t you worry about me.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had to bring him home drunk.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow
night.” I smiled as she started up the model A and drove
down the street.
***
Technically it was
tomorrow when Violet met me at her little bungalow. It was
in a much better part of town than my club, and I was
waiting for her when she arrived. She didn’t have to ask how
I beat her home when I had come on foot. She’d known what I
was for a long time, maybe even before I drank from her the
first time. Her momma was from New Orleans, and I could see
the hint of color in her skin that spoke to her voodoo
roots. But Pauli Gaggi had ignored his father’s rage, and
married the mulatto girl anyway. Not that it mattered none
to me that she was married or that she wasn’t white.
I slipped from the
shadows next to the car, to pick up Pauli. He was still
three sheets to the wind, and I prayed that he didn’t drool
on my shirt. It was hard enough getting my laundry done with
me having to sleep all day in the basement of the club and
all. And unlike when I lived in San Francisco with Lady Xue,
we didn’t have any of her servants to take care of us.
“Be careful Denver,” she
giggled a little bit tipsy herself as she fumbled for her
door keys. “Don’t hit his head on the railing.”
“Darlin’ if I dropped
him down the steps, he wouldn’t feel nothin’.”
“You wouldn’t do that to
him,” Violet turned and placed her little hands on her hips
and pouted. God damn but I wanted to just bite her lips when
she did that. “I do love him.”
“I know you do darlin’.”
I just didn’t know why. Sure he had money thanks to his
momma sending him an allowance after his daddy cut him off
for marrying the colored girl. But was living in a real
house worth it? I was no one to be casting stones about
been’ a whore though. I’d done my share of selling my body
to get by over the years too. “Now open the door, so I can
get sleepin’ beauty inside and you out of your clothes.
After I dumped Pauli
across his bed, and yanked off his shoes I turned to find
Violet standing in the doorway in a thin wrapper of white
silk. It made her skin look that much more delicious.
“Dammit woman,” I said
as I sauntered over to her, letting her lead me towards the
bathroom. “You have stolen my breath away. There are angels
jealous of how beautiful you are.”
“I’d tell you to stop
lying to me, Denver,” she reached up and started pealing off
my clothes. “But I like it when you talk to me.”
“I’ll be doin’ more than
talkin’ in just a bit,” I joked as I nibbled the spot below
her ear. The gas lamp in the bathroom flickered. I was glad
she hadn’t turned on the electric lights. I was all for the
modern conveniences, but a woman just looked better in gas
or candle light.
When her hands hit my
cold naked skin, it was like having drops of molten
chocolate drip over my chest and thighs. I reached down and
drew her up next to me, feeling the slickness of her robe
fall away as I lifted her naked into the tub that she’d
filled with hot water and bath oil.
Water splashed onto the
tiles as I twisted around so she was straddling me. I tilted
my face towards her and licked at one of her coffee colored
nipples as she rubbed against me. My fingers teased at her
beneath the water until she gripped my shoulders like a
vice, her nails scoring my skin like a hungry kitten.
“Now Sinclair,” she
whispered against my throat as she slid down on me. She was
so hot inside that I felt like I was been’ scalded, and I
didn’t mind one little bit. I gasped as she bit me, her
little white teeth digging deep into my shoulder.
“Don’t you draw blood,
now,” I cautioned her pulling away as far as I could in the
old claw footed tub. I wouldn’t never let anyone taste even
a drop of my cursed blood. I’d been forced into this unlife,
and I weren’t never going to make another like me. “Bitin’s
just fine.”
“I know,” Violet said
with a sigh. “I just like how you taste.”
“I like how you taste
too.”
I dragged her out of the
bath, both of us leaving a trail of water into the living
room where I climbed on top of her on the sofa. I pinned her
hands up over her head with one of mine, while my fingers
did a little exploring of their own until she cried out
again like she had in the tub.
I lost myself inside of
her one more time, I sank my teeth into her throat taking
just enough for me to get by for another night. Her blood
was sweet as honey and as heady as the finest wine. She made
me drunk with the first mouthful as it slid like whiskey
down my throat.
I was warm when I got up
from the sofa, and neither of us said a word as I gathered
up my clothes from the bathroom floor. My pants were damp,
but my boots were soaking wet when I pulled them on. It was
a good thing I didn’t need to worry ‘bout getting a chill or
nothing.
I was still basking in
the glow of our being together when the front door of the
little bungalow was kicked open. A pair of button men with
dark suits and hats came into the living room with guns
pointing in my direction. Violet let out a shriek and ran
into the bedroom where her husband was still out cold.
“Sinclair!” one of the
goons said aiming his heater at me. “Mr. Gaggi sent us.”
As if I didn’t know
where they come from?
I grabbed my jacket off
the floor, and jumped clean out of the bathroom window
leaving behind a shower of glass and wood in the little
garden out front of Violet’s house. I could hear them
cussing up a storm behind me, and what I hadn’t counted on
was the car load of mooks who were waiting outside.
***
And now here I was, in a
blind alley about to get filled with enough holes to be used
as a doily. I braced myself for the first round of shots,
locking my jaw as the bullets cut through me like I was made
of hot butter. My head bounced against the wall over and
over again as the bullets struck, my feet were kicking like
I was trying to tap dance my way to hell.
They finally stopped
shooting when I slid down the wall, leaving a smear of
stolen blood behind me. I waited watching them with eyes
that didn’t work too well no more, and crossed my fingers
they didn’t feel the need to dispose of me properly.
But as usual, my luck
was bad.
When I woke up the next
time I was rushing towards the icy cold water of the
Mississippi as they tossed my body over the bridge. At least
the water would protect me from the sun while I figured out
how to untie the bricks that were hooked to my feet. And
hell if I was lucky – which we all know I ain’t – maybe the
river would take me home down South where I belonged. |
