Chicks Kick Butt

She stared at Duvert, then at me, and whispered, “He’s a vampire.”

“More than that, he’s a dirty, low-down, manipulative, thieving bastard.”

“Thieving?”

“He stole your town, didn’t he? Not to mention your life.”

“More.” Her eyes glittered as fresh tears formed. She touched her throat. “He … fed from me.”

I couldn’t see the marks. They tended to fade fast and not leave scars. “Did he make you feed from him in turn?” It had to be asked.

She couldn’t speak, nodding instead.

“I bet it felt good, though.” I knew that from my own experience with Jack. It was always intense for us, but even more so when he and I … well .

Katie blushed to her now-dark roots. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“Don’t let it bother you, honey, it’s what he arranged, like it or not. He got your body to do what it’s made for. It’s completely different when you do things with the right guy, one who doesn’t have to hypnotize a girl into loving him.”

Oh, boy, was it ever different.

But that part aside, my having Jack’s blood in me enabled me to see Duvert sieving through a closed window. Whenever Jack pulled his vanishing act I could follow his otherwise invisible movements while others could not. It was spooky, but he was my man, and some guys had worse habits. There was another advantage, too.

“Be glad he did it,” I said. “ That was Ethan’s big mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once his blood was in you it gave you immunity from his hypnosis. He couldn’t control you that way anymore. He must not have known.” Vampires don’t wake up dead knowing all the ropes about the condition. They’re only as good as their teacher—if he or she bothered to say anything. Jack was still learning.

“It was like waking up,” said Katie, “but I was alone. The only one awake in a town of sleepwalkers. No one else … I couldn’t talk to anybody, not even my mother. She’d have told him.”

“Don’t blame them. It’s his fault.”

“I do blame them. Why didn’t they wake up? ”

I reminded myself she was barely sixteen and feeling betrayed by those who were supposed to protect her. “Is that when you ran away?”

“First thing in the morning. I got a bus to Cleveland, then Toledo, then I ran out of money and had to do something. The only job I could get that paid right away and kept me moving was chorus-line work. I had tap classes when I was in school. I lied about my age, and Big Maggie and the others looked after me, but I couldn’t tell them anything or they’d think I’d lost my mind.”

“You’re awful darned lucky, kiddo.”

“Lucky?”

“That you fell in with Big Maggie and not white slavers.”

“What are those?”

“Never you mind. Who are those guys who came to the club? Did you see them?”

“The man in the suit is the mayor. I don’t know the others, but they’ll be from Sheldon. After I left, that picture of me, and a reward offer, appeared in all the newspapers. I changed my hair and wore lots of makeup and hats with veils, and it worked till now. Someone must have recognized me and sent word to Ethan.”

“This might be the first time he’s left Sheldon since his arrival.”

“So?”

“The town will wake up, given time. The hypnosis wears off unless he reinforces it, especially if it goes against what a person would normally do.”

“How do you know this?”

I had to bend the truth. She was in no shape for my life story. “I used to know a vampire. He was not like Ethan. He was a real man, good and decent. He helped me out of a jam and told me things. I wish he was here, because he’d kick this four-flushing dewdropper into the next state.”

Hefting the broom handle, I wondered if Duvert was due for another crack on the noggin. Vampires could recover fast from otherwise fatal injuries and not give a clue until it was too late to do anything. Even weakened and half conscious he could snap us in two a hell of a lot easier than I’d snapped the broom.

“Decision time, Katie. We can get on the train and head south or—”

“He’ll keep looking for me. What if he goes back to Sheldon and hurts my parents? What if he finds another girl and makes her do things she doesn’t want?”

“You’ve been thinking about this, huh?”

“Ever since I ran away. I want to go home. I want to be me again, not his puppet.”

“There’s always a Reno divorce,” I said, making a joke before raising a far more serious alternative. Katie beat me to it.

“Or I could be a widow,” she said in a low, steely voice. Her pale eyes were too hard for a sixteen-year-old’s face. “I thought about that. A lot.”

“Yes…”

“It’s better than killing myself. I thought of that, too, but he’d go turn someone else into a puppet, and I’d be dead.”

“There’s no advantage to it,” I agreed.

My tummy did another queasy flip. We were talking murder. Just thinking about the actual, physical act of killing someone, anyone, made me sick. I’d shot a man dead once, in the heat of a white-hot rage and to save others, but it bothered me. Every day it bothered me—I kept busy so as to not think about it.

But I knew people who weren’t bothered by killing. One of my gangster friends would help out gladly as a favor, but he was miles away down the tracks in Chicago. It would take time to get him here, but if need be I could keep Duvert out for the count.

I’m no movie heroine. I’m just Bobbi Smythe, a blond chicken who’s happy to let someone else do her dirty work. If you can’t bring yourself to go down in the sewer, call a rat.

“Katie, I’m gonna get us help. We’ll have to hole up. With him. It won’t be bad during the day but—”

For the second time that night someone crashed through a door to what I thought was a private place. Katie yelped and scrambled toward the window. I faced the threat.

Threats: badly dressed hometown guys. The banker looked punch-drunk, and I couldn’t tell if it was from his beating or months of forced hypnosis.

The four men stared at Duvert, silent.

Was now a good time to scream? It would bring the porter and stationmaster. But cops would get involved, because Duvert was a dead body, and here I was holding the murder weapon. They’d never believe anything about him being a vampire. They’d toss me in the tank, and I’d be a sitting duck for Duvert if he decided to invisibly float in to teach me a lesson.

I pulled the .38 from the purse still hanging from my arm. I didn’t want to kill them, but a shot in the foot would slow them down. “YOU! Listen to me!”

Their heads moved my way in unison, their eyes utterly empty. I’d half recognized it back in my dressing room. The people Jack hypnotized got that same look. On one person it was disturbing; four at once was intimidating as hell.

“Out of here. Now .”

Oh, my goodness. They were leaving . Shuffling out backward.

“Stop.”

They stopped.

“What are you doing?” Katie squeaked.

“I think I’m directing traffic, honey. Maybe all you need is a firm voice. Pick him up .” I pointed at Duvert’s body.

Each of them grabbed a limb, and then awkwardly they got through the door.

“Take him to the car,” I ordered. I didn’t know if they had a car, but they’d gotten to town somehow. It seemed a good bet.

They carried him across the station while Katie and I hung back. The porter lay on the floor, feebly moving.