Hot Blood: Tales of Erotic Horror

'Okay, she was maybe the most beautiful broad I've ever laid eyes on, but you can't look forever when you're not allowed to touch. She had this deep, husky voice that seemed to come from her chest instead of her throat, but she never used it for anything but small talk. She had a way of staring at you without blinking, but you want someone to look at you, not through you. She moved and walked like a dream, but there comes a time when you have to wake up.

'By the time I woke up it was our last night out and too late. But not too late to hit the bar. There was the usual ship's party and I'd made a date to take Vilma to the floor show. I didn't cancel it — I just stood her up.

'Maybe I was a slow learner or a sore loser. I didn't give a damn which it was, I'd just had it up to here. No more climbing the walls; I was going to tie one on, and I did.

'I went up aft to a little deck bar away from the action, and got to work. Everybody was making the party scene so I was the only customer. The bartender wanted to talk but I turned him off. I wasn't in the mood for conversation; I had too much to think about. Such as, what the hell had come over me these past two weeks? Running after a phony teaser like some goddamn kid with the hots — it made no sense. Not after the first drink, or the second. But the time I ordered the third, which was a double, I was ready to go after Vilma and hit her right in the mouth.

'But I didn't have to. Because she was there. Standing next to me, with that way-out tropical moon shining through the light blue evening gown and shimmering over her hair.

'She gave me a big smile. 'I've been looking for you everywhere,' she said. 'We've got to talk.'

'I told her to forget it, we had nothing to discuss. She just stood there looking at me, and now the moonlight was sparkling in her eyes. I told her to get lost, I never wanted to see her again. And she put her hand on my arm and said, 'You're in love with me, aren't you?'

'I didn't answer. I couldn't answer, because it all came together and it was true. I was in love with Vilma. That's why I wanted to hit her, to grab hold of her and tear that dress right off and —

'Vilma took my hand. 'Let's go to my room,' she said.

'Now there's a switch for you. Two weeks in the deepfreeze and now this. On the last night, too — we'd be docking in a few hours and I still had to pack and be ready to leave the ship early next morning.

'But it didn't matter. What mattered is that we went right to her stateroom and locked the door and it was all ready and waiting. The lights were low, the bed was turned down and the champagne was chilling in the ice bucket.

'Vilma poured me a glass, but none for herself. 'Go ahead,' she said, i don't mind.'

'But I did, and I told her so. There was something about the setup that didn't make sense. If this was what she wanted, why wait until the last minute?

'She gave me a look I've never forgotten. 'Because I had to be sure first.'

'I took a big gulp of my drink. It hit me hard on top of what I'd already had, and I was all through playing games. 'Sure of what?' I said. 'What's the matter, you think I can't get it up?'

'Vilma's expression didn't change. 'You don't understand. I had to get to know you and decide if you were suitable.'

'I put down my empty glass. 'To go to bed with?'

'Vilma shook her head. To be the father of my child.'

'I stared at her. 'Now wait a minute — '

'She gave me that look again. 'I have waited. For two weeks I've been waiting watching you and making up my mind. You seem to be healthy, and there's no reason why our offspring wouldn't be genetically sound.'

'I could feel that last drink but I knew I wasn't stoned. I'd heard her loud and clear. 'You can stop right there,' I told her. 'I'm not into marriage, or supporting a kid.'

'She shrugged. 'I'm not asking you to marry me, and I don't need any financial help. If I conceive tonight, you won't even know about it. Tomorrow we go our separate ways — I promise you'll never even have to see me again.'

'She moved close, too close, close enough so that I could feel the heat pouring off her in waves. Heat, and perfume, and a kind of vibration that echoed in her husky voice. 'I need a child,' she said.

'All kinds of thoughts flashed through my head. She was high on acid, she was on a freak sex-trip, some kind of a nut case. 'Look,' I said, i don't even know you, not really — '

'She laughed then, and her laugh was husky too. 'What does it matter? You want me.'

'I wanted her, all right. The thoughts blurred together, blended with the alcohol and the anger, and the only thing left was wanting her. Wanting this big beautiful blond babe, wanting her heat, her need.

'I reached for her and she stepped back, turning her head when I tried to kiss her. 'Get undressed first,' she said. 'Oh, hurry — please — '

'I hurried. Maybe she'd slipped something into my drink, because I had trouble unbuttoning my shirt and in the end I ripped it off, along with everything else. But whatever she'd given me I was turned on, turned on like I've never been before.

'I hit the bed, lying on my back, and everything froze; I couldn't move, my arms and legs felt numb because all the sensation was centered in one place. I was ready, so ready I couldn't turn off if I tried.

'I know because I kept watching her, and there was no change when she lifted her arms to her neck and removed her head.

'She put her head down on the table and the long blond hair hung over the side and the glassy blue eyes went dead in the rubbery face. But I couldn't stir, I was still turned on, and all I remember is thinking to myself, without a head how can she see?

'Then the dress fell and there was my answer, moving toward me. Bending over me on the bed, with her tiny breasts almost directly above my face so that I could see the hard tips budding. Budding and opening until the eyes peered out — the real eyes, green and glittering deep within the nipples.

'And she bent closer; I watched her belly ride and fall, felt the warm panting breath from her navel. The last thing I saw was what lay below — the pink-lipped, bearded mouth, opening to engulf me. I screamed once, and then I passed out.

'Do you understand now? Vilma had told me the truth, or part of the truth. She was a high-fashion model, all right — but a model for what?

'Who made her, and how many more did they make? How many hundreds or thousands are there, all over the world? Models — you ever notice how they all seem to look alike? They could be sisters, and maybe they are. A family, a race from somewhere outside, swarming across the world, breeding with men when the need is upon them, breeding in their own special way. The way she bred with me —»

I ran out then, when he lost control and started to scream. The attendants went in and I guess they quieted him down, because by the time I got to Dr. Stern's office down the hall I couldn't hear him any more.

'Well?' Stern said. 'What do you make of it?'

I shook my head. 'You're the doctor. Suppose you tell me.'

'There isn't much. This Vilma — Vilma Loring, she called herself — really existed. She was a working professional model for about two years, registered with a New York agency, living in a leased apartment on Central Park South. Lots of people remember seeing her, talking to her —»

'You're using the past tense,' I said.

Stern nodded. 'That's because she disappeared. She must have left her stateroom, left the ship as soon as it docked that night in Miami. No one's managed to locate her since, though God knows they've tried, in view of what happened.'

'Just what did happen?'

'You heard the story.'

'But he's crazy — isn't he?'

'Greatly disturbed. That's why they brought him here after they found him the next morning, lying there on the bed in a pool of blood.' Stern shrugged. 'You see, that's the one thing nobody can explain. To this day, we don't know what became of his genitals.'