She smiled at him from the glass — the empty eye sockets deep shadows in the reflected streetlight. receding gums black against strong, white teeth.
Gil heard them clicking together as she tightened her grip on his arm.
'I not finish last time, GI.»
She smiled and twin blue flames, like misplaced gaslights, suddenly glowed from the depths of her empty sockets.
This time be more beddah, GI. this time I suckee you good.
You watch, GI. This time gonna be more beddah, for sure!
The sound of tires hissing against damp asphalt snapped Gil's attention to the street. A three-wheeled, surrey-fringed Lambretta «taxi» whispered past, the American-made transistor radio hanging from the motorcycle handlebars bouncing against the driver's bare knees as it played something soft.
Something familiar.
Something about a devil in a blue dress.
And he ran to it.
Gil saw the driver's eyes through the windshield an instant before the cab's right bumper crushed his rib cage. heard the 'What the FUCK?' a moment before he slipped beneath the good Detroit wheel.
He came outta nowhere, someone was shouting over him. Just run right out in front of me like he was crazy or something.
Musta been drunk, another voice said.
Or high.
Anyone know who he is?
Seen 'm come out o' that fat-assed restaurant — guy was a real pervert, y'know.
The last voice was familiar and Gil wished he could open his eyes to make sure. But it really didn't matter because he knew she was still there.
They were all still there.
Watching him die.
watching
forever
Paul Dale Anderson Anderson is the author of Claw Hammer, Superstitions, Daddy's Home, Effigies, Games, Sidewinders, and The Devil Made Me Do It. The Illinois resident's short stories have appeared in Shock Rock, Hotter Blood, Masques III, Best of Horror Show, Deathrealm, and New Blood, among others.
P. D. Cacek Colorado's Cacek is an active contributor of short fiction to small-press magazines, as well as Pulphouse, Deathrealm, and Bizarre Bazaar. Her anthology story credits include Deathport, Newer York, and Journeys to the Twilight Zone II.
J. L. Comeau Comeau is a writer and writing instructor whose work has appeared in Hottest Blood, Women of the West, Borderlands 2 and 3, Year's Best Horror XIX, Best New Horror 2, 3, and 5, and others. The District of Columbia resident is currently working on a novel.
James Crawford New Yorker Crawford has been writing since he was very young, with earlier material appearing in comics fanzines and Vampirella. This is his first professionally published prose fiction.
Michael Garrett Michael Garrett is coeditor of the Hot Blood series and author of the suspense thriller Keeper. His work has recently appeared in Shock Rock II and Fear Itself. He is an instructor for the Writer's Digest School and teaches writing seminars at college campuses across the Southeast. He resides in Alabama with his wife and children.
Jeff Gelb Gelb is a California-based editor of the Shock Rock and Fear Itself anthologies, and coeditor of the Hot Blood series. He is the author of the horror novel Specters, and, as a rabid comic book collector and historian, is a frequent contributor to magazines about comic books such as Comics Buyers Guide, Comics Interview, and Overstreet's Gold & Silver. His short fiction has appeared in such anthologies as Scare Care and 100 Vicious Little Vampires.
Stephen R. George Canada's George is the author of a dozen novels, including Torment, Bloody Valentine, Deadly Vengeance, Nightscape, Near Dead, and The Forgotten. His most recent novel is Seeing Eye.
Ronald Kelly Kelly, a native of Tennessee, is the author of eight novels, including The Possession, Fear, and most recently, Blood Kin. He has been published in numerous anthologies, and his short fiction has been featured in his audio collection, Dark Dixie: Tales of Southern Horror.
Edward Lee Lee is the author of nine horror novels, Ghouls, Succubi, and Creekers among them. His most recent novel is Sacrifice. His short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Bizarre Bazaar, Dark Seductions, and Voice in the Night, plus a chapbook called Sex, Truth & Reality. The Maryland resident is currently writing an SF novel, The Epicycle, a collaborative horror novel with t. Winter-Damon called Shifters, and a horror epic called The Bighead, which he says he hopes will be the grossest book ever written.
Bentley Little Californian Little is a respected D. H. Lawrence scholar who claims to have worked in various carnivals and strip clubs throughout the Southwest. He is the author of The Mailman, Death Instinct, The Summoning, and the Stoker award-winning The Revelation. His latest novel is University.
Rex Miller Butcher, next in the series of Chaingang novels, was published in December '94. Missouri's Miller is the author of eleven novels, two nonfiction books, two teleplays, and some fifty short stories, including ones in Fear Itself, the Hot Blood books, Shock Rock II, Forbidden Acts, and a forthcoming anthology featuring Will Eisner's The Spirit.
Billie Sue Mosiman Mosiman, a Texas resident, is the author of five novels of suspense, including Night Cruise, Slice, and Deadly Affections. Upcoming are Widow and Suddenly. She is the author of upwards of seventy short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Hard- boiled, Pulphouse, Horror Show, and more. Her anthology sales include Invitation to Murder, Psycho-Paths, Dark Crimes 2, Predators, Monsters in Our Midst,
